THE LUCID DREAM

VENUE THE VICTORIA, LONDON DATE 05/04/2018

Just two days after playing this modest east london venue last March, what should have been the triumphant start to a european tour soon turned to misery following the theft in Paris of every piece of The lucid dream’s equipment. This wasn’t just the loss of instruments, amps and pedals, but the abrupt and cruel cessation of a long journey that had begun while the band were still in their early teens.

Or at least that would have been the case were it not for their fans’ fervent belief in what the band were doing. wasting little time, a crowdfunding campaign saw the Carlisle quartet raise the necessary £10,000 they needed to start all over again, and within a month they were back in action.

So all credit to The lucid dream for not just starting over, but also challenging themselves and their audience, pushing on to the next stage of development. Their recent single, the acid house‑inspired SX1000, certainly threw a curveball, with some fans decrying what they saw as psych treachery, while others adopted a contrary stance and showered the lads with hosannas.

Yet as displayed here, this has proven to be something of a red herring.

The single may well be an extreme example of where they’re heading, but in common with Hookworms and their negative Space album, or

The Oscillation and UeF, the most intriguing psychedelic bands are beginning to explore the movements below the head as much as they are what’s inside. and while all three bands remain distinct from each other in terms of both their approach and delivery, their terms of reference straddle each other’s work.

Opening with new track alone in

Fear shows that if anything, The lucid dream are not only consolidating the dub foundations at the root of their variant of space rock, but they’re also pursuing them to outer reaches. indeed, with the muscle flexing Bad Texan sandwiched between that and another new track, the widescreen boom that is Zenith, the band’s development begins to make perfect sense. So much so, that one pair of heads near the merchandise stall contemplate aloud the most appropriate intoxicants to complement the new material.

and it’s not as if The lucid dream have abandoned their roots. i’m a Star in My Own right remains a multicoloured skank, confirming that the congregation gathered at the altar of psychedelia is a broad church indeed. elsewhere tonight, the mighty epitaph brings the throng together in communion.

There’s more than one colour to the psych spectrum, and The lucid dream know that well.