While you would say that this new one from The House Flies sits easily in the current landscape, at least that space frequented by more discerning listeners, ‘Lost Literature’ is woven from echoes and attitudes that I associate with the music that formed the basis of my record collection all those years ago – driving, organic-electro beats, high-treble bass lines, growling post-punk-scaping, the distant growl of brewing shoegaze storms, gothic haze, and drifting dream pop washes pervading and pooling and percolating in between everything.
Yes, the current alternative and underground fan will love it, but those of us old enough to remember will be having flashbacks to when we were first watching darkwave and goth/rock bands, not to mention the likes of New Order or Depeche Mode (once they got into their post-pop stride).
Hushed, late-night vibes abound, the music conjuring images of midnight drives and silent streets, a contemplative mood and distant memory, nostalgia and a feeling of perhaps something lost, never to be recaptured. But it grooves, gently yet confidently, an energy that builds a bridge between the post-punk kids of yore and a new generation looking for music that talks to them.
As the second single announcing the band’s second album, Lions and Ore, it is perfect. Not just to tease and test the waters before the long player drops, but to remind us that despite all the bland pop and cliched rock piling up like sonic landfill in the modern age, there are still bands that understand the art of making music that lasts long beyond its initial commercial shelf life. Imagine someone finding this in years to come.
‘Lost Literature’ already feels like a misplaced gem from a better time, or a modern Trojan horse smuggled past the gatekeepers to undermine the complacency of the modern musical landscape, and an echo of all the things that people like me, an older music fan, once held dear. And for that, I thank them.
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