Search - Lycia :: Day in Stark Corner

Unsurpassed...An experience unlike anything else...

Matt Massuch | New Hudson, MI United States | 11/04/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"From the push of the play button, you get this very distant, dark pounding...The rhythm of "And Through The Smoke and Nails" hits you. The synth bounces in and out rapidly of the song, and a piano strikes a few now and then. And then you hear Mike...and it makes you want to cry or hurt yourself. His voice is a godsong whisper, echoing through the halls of his musical creation."Pygmallion" jumps in with a dense synth overlay and a few high strings. This song has a great life to it, mixing hope and desolation together. The end has some excellent solid high notes."The Body Electric" is a harsh, hollowed out body of black light, Mike's vocals cut in through a wall of bleak noise."Wide Open Spaces"...beyond all words, a true masterpiece..."The Morning Breaks So Cold And Gray" emanates a choral-like background with vocals that could make anyone shudder. A bit more airy, and still marvelous."The Remants and the Ruins" is a distant mix of guitar and low-end vocals with a reverberated synthesizer giving the song a distinctly wide sound."Goddess Of The Green Fields" is an oddball here, a bit more up-tempo with some nice acoustic guitar work. A heavily reverbed drum kit gives the rest of the song some more feeling to it."Everything is Cold" is a gothic masterpiece, an amazingly powerful piece of music. A beautiful guitar melody and a trademark dark, distant synth drone."Sorrow Is Her Name" is Mike's crowning poetic acheivement. A phased synth pattern with great highs and lows, a great drum beat, and a shattering lyrical piece."Daphne" is ridden with cymbal crashes and rising and falling synths, and a sorrowful longing for another. Mike is honest to the very point here.Gothic fan, Darkwave fan, fan of anything dark, this is essential. Don't ask questions, don't read this silly review, buy a NEW copy of this CD right NOW!"

Beyond Limits and expectations

S. Miller | North Carolina | 07/20/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In short; this is a good album, a great album, and if you like somber, melodic,experimental things, you'll like this.To go and pigeonhole this album - moreover,this band- as "Goth" is really an insult.This goes way beyond the realm of cheezy,melodramatic cliched tripe about vampires and necrophiles.It's like comparing Lisa Gerard to Britney Spears. Lycia definately isn't for someone looking for happy, upbeat salsa music, but it's not for the "Oh dear,I've stapled my withered hand to my pasty white forehead" crowd either."

5+ Stars

Dancing Ganesha | Bangalore, India | 12/20/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While I understand that Mike Van Portfleet often incorporates the theme of the desert in his music, and others "seem" to hear this, to tell you the truth about what I hear, it's a very strong Gothic undercurrent, intensely atmospheric, and very "untouchable" but not exactly "ethereal" of "ambient," which makes me think more of LoveLiesCrushing or one of those bands which sounds ethereal but not gloomy. Lycia is NOT upbeat, although there is a beauty within the music which, as before, keeps you reaching for the ethereal blanket of stars, yet, you are kept from this by the dark Gothic current which beats along. And this is perfect of course, the ideal of Gothic being that of trying to "ascend for the heavens," while at the same time, "heading face down into the grave, into the mire." Lycia expresses this perfectly, that is, before Tara Van Flower became a member and added her own dreamy beauty to it, which I don't condemn one bit. A sign of a good artist is growth, and Lycia certainly is beyond good. On this album, the first song, "And Through The Smoke And Nails," has a very nice beat, catchy almost, and its expansive message also keeps beating into head in the line "for the very last time...for the very last time..." "Pygmallion" has another rhythmic flow to it which is very listenable, with a rather exotic guitar flourish, which reminds me of the east, or maybe the land which Lycia is named for, mysterious, as the name Pygmallion itself (which I believe is a statue a man loved so much it came to life?) This song is instrumental, and a classic. The next song, "The Body Electric," with its Gothic beats and gonging bell, reminds me of a song on the Lycia side-projekt "Cold Black Room." Nice dark effects here, with a blanket of guitars and Van Portfleet's voice resonating against the rather interesting drum pattern. "Wide Open Spaces" is probably a favourite of most, and who can blame them? It opens with a very languid but ultra-luscious introduction, as someone described before "like overlooking from a mountaintop and watching the day go by." This song is definetely another classic. "The Morning Breaks So Cold And Gray" is a truly melancholy song, not one of the most aurally astounding songs, but simple and plaintative in all its distant, cold, and sentimental splendour. The best song come next, "The Remnants And The Ruins." Opening with a perfect, moving drum pattern against a paintbrush guitar with a driving, moody sound, a blanket of guitars delicately compliments it, along with Van Portfleet's ingenious, whispery, soothing voice. This song develops into a true feel of what I call the Gothic sound. Harmonics change, twist, turn, reel, and melodies intertwine in the most beautiful way, with a flickering, melancholy guitar solo which veers between harmonic and inharmonic. Perfect. Van Portfleet has a true love and understanding of this genre and deserves five stars for this song alone. As the song progresses there is yet more in store, as it builds in its aural beauty, so does the intensity grow ever more unbearably beautiful, then tapering off and leading into a minor key, with beautiful, dreamy touches of synth and wall of sound guitar. From hereone, the song is melancholy, and seems to point to a bliss forever out of reach, felt through Van Portfleet's very chilling and unforgiving voice; however, never does the little tiny glimmer of hope stop to burn, as it seems to break through the gloom. "Goddess Of The Green Fields" is almost like a medieval chanson, or refrain, with acoustic guitar and a nice little melody "I don't think about her anymore." So simple and yet so utterly lovely. "Everything Is Cold" is a slow-moving and very dismal piece. Not one of the "catchiest" songs on here, but a very "Van Portfleetian" piece, replete with his brand of despairing lyrics "life is so bare life is so bare is so bare..." Next comes "Sorrow Is Her Name," another gem of a song. I love the line "Sorrow is her name, She's mine..." The last song, "Daphne," is another homage to a beautiful Goddess-like woman, or nymph. Another classic song, with one of the most touching lyrics I've ever heard: "She's so simple she's so pure she's so so so...." repeating over and over. This cd is a MUST have for anyone, whether you like Gothic, Darkwave, or anything else. It's just as good as -Ionia-, although dealing with different themata. BUY THIS CD."