LYCIA - Wake

Cassette Orphanage Records 1989
CD reissue Projekt Records 1993 with bonus tracks



"Mike Van Portfleet formed Lycia in early 1988 in his hometown of Phoenix. Inspired by post-punk and the ethereal 4AD sound of the '80s, he began experimenting with guitar loops on his four-track recorder. He recruited an old friend, bassist John Fair, to join him, and the two recorded Wake in 1989 for Phoenix's Orphanage Records. Fair left a year later to play with Caterwaul, but Van Portfleet continued to record, sending his demos to the goth-ambient Projekt label. Projekt liked what it heard and signed him to a contract".
(John Bush, All-Music Guide)

"Wake is a collection of some of the early Lycia demos that first snared Projekt's attention with the darkwave act that has since taken listeners through many outstanding soundscapes of desolation, hope, despair and eternity. Lycia has retained a central sound all this time, having only become more refined and distinctive in time. The early works shown here are rhythmically a little unsound due to the somewhat cheap sounding drum machine, but the treated guitar and Mike van Portfleet's pained sounding whisper are quite intact. On tracks like Time, his voice sounds positively as if he resented ever being woken up that morning and hey, who really gives a damn if we exist anyhow? As opposed to the lusher sounds of later works, Wake has a more recognizable guitar though its very tone is one of sorrow and bleakness. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone but already established Lycia fans, but it does represent a historical look at where this unique and very wonderful outfit originated".
(John Chedsey, Satan Stole My Teddybear)

ENJOY


Wake