The Lucid Dream have this week announced the release of their fifth LP, The Deep End due out 2 April on Holy Are You Recordings. With the announcement, comes the release of lead single ‘CHI-03’; a track born out of listening to late 80s hip hop records on a loop before allowing the 303 to take on the co-lead vocal role, alongside the sampler. The track was recorded in March 2019 and the speech samples within almost pre-empts the horror and hatred that unfolded in both the USA and UK in the latter stages of 2019 onwards.
Frontman Mark Emmerson explains, “’CHI-03’ was the first track that I wrote for what would be the new album, and was written before Actualisation was released in the autumn 2018. It was the first track on which I used the SH-01a synth as well as a recently acquired sampler. As a band, we nailed it within a day of rehearsals in spring 2019, from a writer’s perspective hearing the force of the track as a 4 piece was overwhelming. Sheer Power. It was also the first track that we recorded for the new album. We have said between us recently that it is surreal that the track and samples particularly (as well as the prominent 80s hip hop influence) are based around issues that have reared their ugly head again since.”
Following on from 2018’s album Actualisation, the new album builds upon the acid house influences of the former but ventures into many new paths. Hip hop, techno, drum ‘n’ bass and other ‘genres’ sneak into the creative palette whilst also staying true to the band’s mantra of throwing the rule book out of the window, as far as ‘boundaries’ are concerned.
The track is a clear continuation of the ground trodden in Actualisation, and whilst most of their psych-hard following will raise an eyebrow at this, anyone who appreciates innovation in music will jump in hard. Turn it up.
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