I won't watch horror films during the day. Its not that you can't enjoy horror during the day (at least not on a sunny California day like I've been used to for the past several years) but come on, the light is shining, people are stirring about, worse comes to worse I can just leave my house and all will somehow be less creepy. The night is the perfect time for high-contrast lighting, things that look like other things, and more things popping out of nowhere. I don't often feel this way about music because I just don't find most music creepy, even music that somehow sets out to be as such (though it seems like there isn't as much of that as there used to be). However, if you want creepy, nighttime-enhanced music then look no further than Arizona's veteran-Darkwavers Lycia (probably a creepier place to live than you may realize), and also when rifling through the discography make sure to make a stop at 2003's Empty Space.For certain moods I have specific albums I like to listen to because when you're feeling a certain way you just don't have the time to start sampling things and this album fulfills that dark need in me. This isn't even to say brooding (for that I have other albums) but rather much like how I described that creepy nighttime feeling. To me this album brings about feelings that zombies are going to start coming out of the woodwork or the infected will begin running at me ala 28 Days Later. I always think the last track of this album, "The End" (how fitting) is reminiscent of the song playing in the film when Jim is enacting his plan against the military guys (or I'm not sure if it'd be the other way around as this album was released in 2003 but recorded in 1999 and the film came out in 2002 but I'm not sure when that song was recorded, so let's just leave that tidbit ambiguous).
What I think appreciate the most about this album, and perhaps Lycia in general is that their process seems closer to the way fine artists would work in that you get the appropriate tools for the particular song. At times you may get guitarist/found Mike VanPortfleet's vocals that are really subtle and intimate while others are more appropriate for the distinctly haunting Tara Vanflower (be sure to check out her solo work by the way) and some songs don't need any vocals at all. More traditional bands work much more similar to narrative filmmaking, which is to say that if you have a vocalist then you use it (though it certainly is common to have songs that only feature the vocalist and maybe a synth or guitars...poor bassists and drummers of the world). I think this way of working allows Lycia to maximize potential for songs because nothing feels forced and everything is unexpected. Though I do miss the vocals when they aren't present as Vanflower's voice really brings the work to another level and very much in the same vein as Siouxsie Sioux. VanPortfleet's vocals are a little more sporadic but they add a great texture to the album, particularly on the aforementioned "The End".
Part of what really solidifies the whole package to me are the little moments such VanPortfleet's vocals on "Not Here, Not Anywhere" or the popping effect (perhaps a woodblock or castanets, unless I'm way off) on "Violent Violet", or just that constant guitar riff throughout the album that sounds just off enough to put the listener in a state of unease (in a positive way). Each member of the band has great moments on the album with an attention to detail. In that sense its like you have four separate artists all working together like an well-oiled machine from the aforementioned work by VanPortfleet and Vanflower to John Fair's off-kilter percussion work, David Galas' post-punk bass.
Lycia has done a great job of continuing to transform over the years while maintaining a signature sound that has helped sustain fanbase (including Trent Reznor) while growing as artists and as a collective. This was the last album until the band recently released on online exclusive EP so I hope this is a sign that their work will continue until those that make the music feel its time to hang it up, and in that case they all have great side/solo-projects that are worth checking out. But to me this may stay for a long time as my favorite Lycia album.
Favorite Tracks: Not Here Not Anywhere, Persephone, Violent Violet, The Long Drive, and The End
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