A butter-smooth rendering of violin, sylph-like vocals and guitar sounds dreamy alright - but are the Lanterns too polished for their own good?
This debut album from the Tyne and Wear sextet attempts to marry elements of widescreen rock with folk’s more tender moments, for the kind of elusive emotive rush TV producers scour the world for.
And, it has to be said, on the likes of the lilting, swooning Keep On Trying, they nail it.
Elsewhere song titles like Blanket Of Leaves and I Love You, Sleepyhead set the scene for gossamer layers of violin, stroked acoustic guitar and Hazel Wilde’s silky vocals.
It’s a soothing package alright, endearingly scuffed with some electronic embellishments and beats here and there, and at first it’s hard to pinpoint where this falters.
The issue is, it’s too slick for its own good, with emotion lost in the solipsistic pursuit of grace.
3 stars
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