Northern Lighthouse Board - 'A Plague of Shadows'
I know very little about Northern Lighthouse Board aside from the fact that I own 2 or 3 physical artefacts of theirs (all via the wonderful Reverb Worship label - more on that later) - I have no idea who they are or where they dwell. I do know, however, that they (could be just a he/she for all I know) make music that is eerily beautiful. In their own words they make "soundscapes for Victorian seances and nocturnal forest gatherings, Abandoned lighthouses, possessed goats, occulted moons and haunted dolls houses."
'A Plague of Shadows' follows in the footsteps of 'The Spirit Cabinet', 'The Wych Elm' and a S/T album released by Reverb Worship. For those that are not au fait with Reverb Worship, I would thoroughly recommend that you rectify that ASAP. They excel in bringing to the public music that would sadly not get much exposure. A look through their 500 or so releases (with sublabels sleep FUSE and Future Grave) highlights the excellent taste and curation skills of founder Roger Linney. The label has championed many heroes of the folky outsider scene, artists such as Grey Malkin, Trappist Afterland and Kitchen Cynics amongst many, many others. It's not just folk though, the label has also given release to such luminaries as Japanese psych maestro Kawabata Makoto and electronic experimentalist Stuart Chalmers. As I said, it's really worth a delve through the back catalogue.
Back to 'A Plague of Shadows'. To sum it up in one word is a futile act, but that word would be 'creepy'. A lot of 'alt-folk' acts use Lovecraft as a muse, throwing in references to Cthulu etc but Northern Lighthouse Board would be appear to be firmly in the M.R.James/Arthur Machen camp - there is a distinctly British feel about the otherworldly sounds they produce. Musically the album relies on rich swathes of synths to create the eerie atmospheres - it's all very slow, mournful and unearthly, in places redolent of the dark ambience of Lustmord. There is variety however - 'The Fox Sisters' for example has some sublime guitar work, bordering on American primitive but still managing to retain a sense of place. Other tracks are lifted with some very 'Suspiria' like bells. Samples and found sounds are used throughout the album to very great effect. The 'Suspiria' nod is very apt actually as 'A Plague of Shadows' would work perfectly as the soundtrack to a long-lost seventies movie, maybe not an Argento film with their bright, lavish colours but something more uncanny and ghostly.
It is another unmitigated success for The Northern Lighthouse Board and Reverb Worship. One of the reasons I started this blog was to spread some light on special releases such as this, in this world of never ending Coldplay vinyl re-issues and over-hyped artists (and over-inflated egos). Give this a listen and if you like it, buy it,
Reverb Worship are releasing the album on CD and can be purchased (preorder) on Ebay here and the digital version is on the Northern Lighthouse Board Bandcamp page.
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