HEATHEN HARVEST
cd reviews - January 1, 2009
Blond Adonis
Midnight Matinée
HeathenHarvest.com

Artist: The Lost Patrol (United States)
Title: Midnight Matinée
Label: Self Released
Genre: Shoegaze / Lounge

01 On The Run
02 Homecoming
03 Blue Lullabies
04 Fades From View
05 Colours Turn Grey
06 Serenade
07 Distance
08 Silver City Sunset
09 The Fallen
10 Jukebox On the Moon

The enterprising trio known as The Lost Patrol has just released Midnight Matinée, a self-produced and self-released CD. Consisting of newcomer, Mollie Israel, who came into the band earlier in 2008. She has taken over the singing and plays harp as well; there is also Stephen Masucci, on guitar, bass, omnichord and “programming” as well as Michael Williams who plays 12-string acoustic guitar. They are collectively a trio who have their own brand of sugary neo-psychedelia with a hint of surf guitar in there underneath layers of stuff. Being as independent as they are (you can't get more independent than putting out your own store-ready CD with no label support, I suppose the only drawback may be that it will probably be hard to find at your local record store, but thank gawd for the internet, because you can buy it by going to The Lost Patrol Website . Also, on their MySpace page you have the chance to hear the tracks from Midnight Matinée.

The album is a delightful piece of rich white cake, you know the kind: with the same texture as a chocolate cake, but white and fluffy and with a middle filled with a delicious creamy custard kind of filling. Their self-styled description read as being: “Surf/Shoegaze/Lounge”; you read that on their MySpace page as well, while the music queues up and the tracks begin to play, beginning with “On The Run” and continuing with “Homecoming” and “Blue Lullabies”, the three tracks that are featured from the new album then, rounding out the sextet of songs are three other tracks, “Sirens”. “Orbit” and “Shimmy”. The latter three tracks run in the same vein as the new stuff. The track “Orbit” from 2007's Launch and Landing has a hint of the best of the 1990s noise-atmospheric bands Curve and My Bloody Valentine.

On the new album, Midnight Matinée, the band has evolved, especially with a new singer in Mollie Israel who plays a mean harp as well. [Editorial Note: "Harp" here is referring to the upright Concert Harp, not the harmonica.] The surf music sticks out a little but you can't label it “Surf Music”, it's much more complex. If you do visit their MySpace page, you will also be able to read a LONG list of their influences, which include Echo & The Bunnymen, the aforementioned Curve, Gary Numan and The Catherine Wheel. That makes sense. One band they also put down as an influence was one which I thought they sounded like even before reading the list – that would be Mazzy Star. Especially Blue Lullabies; listening to that cut reminded me of Mazzy Star and I made a note of that so reading that on their “influences” list justified my thinking that.

As far as them being “Lounge” or “Shoegazer” - those are not inept descriptions either. I also heard a bit of Radiohead on Midnight Matinee. I wrote that down too – about them being sort of an “American Radiohead with a female voice”. They also list Angelo Badalamenti, the brilliant scorer of David Lynch's film and the Twin Peaks TV series, as an influences and there is another synchronous moment as when listening to the new CD I thought some of it sounded like his work and the music one heard in general in a Lynch movie. Songs like “Serenade”, “Colours Turn Grey” and “Homecoming” are indicative of their having merged a tiny piece of each of their influences in their music. This is an album worth getting. It has an alt-pop feel to it augmented by an atmosphere of light clouds.

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