Consensus Lake and the memories and melancholia of "Cyclone"

 

"I couldn't imagine it would end like this / from the lift hill of the cyclone / Tried to keep our cool for the camera / How could we have known?"

The underwater memories of "Cyclone", bubbles and all, by Rochester -New York indie folk band Consensus Lake, feels from another time, just like the youthful dreams the song questions and maybe answers. The song feels like it is viewed through an otherworldly lens or on an old 60's cathode ray television, through the obscuring ambience whether it be howling wind, images literally bubbling to the surface or an illusory gaze like looking in the bathroom mirror and seeing your younger self. 

Consensus Lake is comprised of Alex Fantauzzo on bass, guitar, percussion, synthesizer, vocals / Evan Goldstein on backing vocals, guitar and Sam Miller on bass, guitar, organ, piano, vocals with added other collaborators when needed and hearing them for the first time on "Cyclone" had me thinking, for some reason, of artists like Ben Folds Five, like Jackson Browne, like Ben Kweller. I think it is the piano shapes that feel sort of piano bar and the wistful twist lyrically, the fuzzy lead guitar that feels, at once, art rock-esque but if you squint, feels melodically like a mournful 70's pop sax. 

"I couldn't imagine it would end like this

From the bleachers on the visitors' side
Searching for relics of easier times
In the shadows of carnival rides

I couldn’t imagine it would end like this
From the bench in Union Square Park
Talking about all our favorite songs
While the city slowly went dark
This is me saying sorry"

"Cyclone" if from the band's latest EP “Cliff Hanger”.

LINER NOTES:

Our new EP “Cliff Hanger” combines the lyrics-forward approach of artists like Counting Crows and Jason Isbell with the textured production of Wilco and Bright Eyes. The EP addresses various themes, but the overarching one is acceptance - of the place you live, the partner you share it with, and past experiences and regrets.

-Robb Donker Curtius

 

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://www.instagram.com/consensus_lake/

https://open.spotify.com/album/01Cirxea2c1BrAJWdxd5Jw

https://consensuslake.bandcamp.com/track/cyclone



Consensus Lake is a folk-rock band from upstate New York.

Balancing folk and bluegrass with lively bar-room energy, Consensus Lake offers songs that are both quietly intimate and expand across the American landscape like the folk and rock influences they draw on. Consensus Lake is a meeting place for three friends whose music is truest when they're singing together.

Consensus Lake, folk, indie rock, pop ballads, storytelling, piano ballads, wistful starry eyed imagery, NEW EP “Cliff Hanger”, Rochester New York,