On LAKE's newest full-length album, Giving and Receiving
[KLP228], the sense that the world was at a serious state of unrest
during its inception is haunting. The album was put together
during the time when the Gulf oil spill was bumming everyone
out, and this did a great deal to seep into the songs themselves,
such as on the album's title track with the lyrics: ''there used to
be fish in the ocean baby....'' But that's not to say that the
album is depressing, it actually soars with beautiful melodies
and gentle, yet deliberate instrumentation. Written partially
while staying at a little cabin in Northern Sweden, which band
member Ashley says is the only place she's ever truly heard
silence, songs like ''Skeleton Costume,'' and ''Pilgrim's Day''
were born in a shed there, and have the creaky barn
wood/fresh air sound to prove it. The album as a whole is all
about moving forward; realizing what we as people are given
every day, and figuring out how to pay back for it whenever
possible. In the band's own words: ''Giving and Receiving'' is
meant to be uplifting. It offers an antidote to depression. The
more that you give, the more that you receive. However, it is
contradicted by the great environmental and moral dilemma
of our modern world in a cryptic nursery rhyme: ''there used to
be fish in the ocean, there used to be fish in the sea, you've
taken my fish from the ocean, bring back my fish to me''. I suppose
the message is that although we have made irreparable
damage on our planet, we still have a chance for reconciliation
if we can abstain from ''overfishing.''
''Where 2009's Let's Build a Roof was a musical travelogue of
the band's previous tours, Giving and Receiving sees the group
settling back into road-tested songwriting habits. - Prefix Magazine
''LAKE is a sonic snapshot from a late-summer road trip. With
swooping soundscapes, and plush boy-girl harmonies... they
are sure to inspire wanderlust.'' - Readymade Magazine
Tracklist
1. Intro
2. One Small Step
3. Roger Miller
4. Within/Without
5. The Stars
6. Stumble Around
7. Giving & Receiving
8. Mother Nature's Promise
9. Skeleton Costume
10. Bird and the Berry
11. Interlude
12. Pilgrim's Day
13. Efforts
14. Distant Stars