Carlisle’s quartet, The Lucid Dream return in October with the release of their fourth album, Actualisation on 19th October. Driven by fans raising £10,000 to help replace all equipment robbed after a Paris show in early 2017, a new album became the instant focus in the summer of 2017 for a rejuvenated The Lucid Dream.
Actualisation is soaked in the influence of acid house, amalgamated with dub and kosmische. It will again see them acknowledged for venturing into pastures new, setting themselves apart from ‘genres’, ‘scenes’ or what any other act are currently doing.
The album was penned over the summer of 2017 by Mark Emmerson using only the classic Roland 303/808 synths, bass and vocals as tools for writing. Inspiration for the writing was formed via continuous listening to the Chicago to UK acid house works of 1986-1992, the focus predominantly on the groove.
Released through the band’s own label Holy Are You Recordings, Actualisation is the follow up to the quartet’s highly acclaimed 2016 album Compulsion Songs, becoming their fourth album in five years. A record made for the dancefloor. Recorded at Whitewood Studios, Liverpool, with Rob Whiteley, the album is produced alongside long-time collaborator Ross Halden (Ghost Town Studios, Leeds), with mastering via Dean Honer (All Seeing I/I Monster/The Moonlandingz).
The confrontational techno-punk of “Alone In Fear” opens the album, a 9-minute attack fueled by the frustration and anger spawned by Brexit, government and a realisation of what 2018 Britain currently is.
Recent single “SX1000” (the first work from the album, unveiled via 12′ vinyl in April this year) is the band’s first move into pure acid house. This track picked up plaudits via the iconic Andrew Weatherall and Bernie Connor. The acid house fusion runs throughout the record, represented furthermore by “Ardency”, a track already praised by live critics when aired live for the first time earlier this year as ‘even on first hearing, would’ve raised the roof of The Hacienda’.
The 2-part opus of “Zenith” follows, commencing with a space-dub/house instrumental groove before building into a track that will go for your head as much as your hips. Only “Breakdown” harks back to sounds of old for the band, a little reminder of the skull-crushing impact they can make when stripped to the bare bones. “No Sunlight Dub” closes the album, a dark-dub that invites the classic acid-house tool (Roland 808) into the dub. The track makes a stop-off into drum ‘n’ bass/jungle along the way before rounding up in a manner suited to Lee Perry, King Tubby, Augustus Pablo and other Jamaican greats.
The Lucid Dream will play the following shows, including UK tour support to Wooden Shjips:
12th September – Glasgow, St. Lukes (w/ Wooden Shjips)
13th September – Gateshead, The Sage (w/ Wooden Shjips)
14th September – Liverpool, Invisible Wind Factory (w/ Wooden Shjips)
15th September – Manchester, Gorilla (w/ Wooden Shjips)
16th September – Birmingham, The Institute 2 (w/ Wooden Shjips)
21st November – London, Sebright Arms
22nd November – Brighton, Green Door Store
23rd November – Todmorden, The Golden Lion
24th November – Carlisle, The Brickyard
