Album Review: Spook the Herd by Lanterns on the Lake

2013's "Another Tale from Another English Town" was written years before there was such a word as Brexit; the bleak picture it paints of northern communities in decay now sounds stingingly prescient. Two years later, with "Faultlines", their sociopolitical slant subtly evolved, as they went from chronicling the effects of austerity to issuing a rallying cry for it to be resisted. Both Until the Colours Run and Beings were deeply imbued with a sense of righteous anger, and even when that wasn't bubbling to the surface the way it did on those singles, Hazel Wilde was always singing about empathy, about community, about love.

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Based in Newcastle, England since their formation, Lanterns on the Lake have historically kept their recording practices in-house, opting to track songs in their homes and other improvised studio spaces, even after signing with a label that would provide funds to do otherwise. For their fourth album, Spook the Herd, they finally did venture outside of their comfort zone to work with engineer Joss Worthington (the Membranes, Pete Coe) at a studio in Yorkshire. The band still oversaw production.

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