Website: Lansing-Dreiden
The Inside Pulse:
They’re secretive. They don’t play live. They’re all about music for the art of it, and they have no plans to be mainstream. That’s Lansing-Dreiden.
So, what do they put to disc? The Dividing Island is a mix of ’80s dark pop and ’60s psychedelica, with a heavy emphasis on the latter. It’s almost worth a double-take to check the copyright disc on the album. Borrowing very heavily from early Pink Floyd and David Bowie, it shifts almost seamlessly into a new wave oddity and back again. It’s quite literally so difficult to explain that it almost requires its own genre.
Positives: “A Line You Can Cross” recalls Joy Division and Spandau Ballet; “Our Next Breath” sounds straight out of 1967; “Part of the Promise” manages to mix them both equally. “Dethroning the Optimyth,” the final track, comes out of nowhere with an aggressive guitar to couple the dreamy, psych vocals. In other words, there is nothing in existence like The Dividing Island. Its biggest asset is its oddity.
Negatives: It’s weird. Big time weird. And it’s not helped by a lot of slow, droning downtime throughout the disc, causing one to lose focus and drift away from the music altogether. When it’s interesting, it’s interesting. But when it’s not, it’s unbearably unforgettable.
Cross-breed: If Mars Volta decided to take a gander at late ’60s pop. They’re the only band out there half as weird as Lansing-Dreiden.
Reason To Buy: If you’re into experimental odd indie music, this is mostly inoffensive and fairly interesting. It’s an acquired taste at best, and for most, not really worth the time to acquire that taste.
