Lensmen

Crashing in from a parallel universe arrive Lensmen: a four piece band with big hearts asking big questions of the human condition.

Formed in 2016 by Dan Fisher (keyboards), Gavin McClafferty (bass), Jason Wilkinson (drums) and, last but by no means least, Alun Hughes (vocals), Lensmen are a group of audio alchemists who confront their audience with a raw and visceral vision of the future deeply rooted in the darker moments of rock’s tortured past.

The name is derived from the legendary liquid lights which were a feature of Hawkwind’s mind-warping live shows in the early 1970s.

But while they admit to the occasional psychedelic wigout onstage, Lensmen’s key musical references come from the decade that followed and they have been variously compared to Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Magazine, Joy Division and Tindersticks.

However, one listen to recorded works like Scared of Swimming, DEMO18 and Moon Wires will tell you that Lensmen’s brand of dark cabaret is anything but a retro-exercise in post-rock, sturm and drang style.

In frontman Alun Hughes, they boast a storyteller and slam poet whose twisted and tormented tales reflect the band’s shared life experiences: thwarted ambition, personal rejection, grief, pressures of parenthood, the onset of age and finally the meaning of living in a death phobic and celebrity-obsessed society.

And by treating Hughes’ voice as a separate musical instrument within a collaborative, connective and even cathartic creative process, Lensmen construct each track as if it were a piece of living, sonic sculpture.

Their music-making methodology may sound unashamedly artistic. But then that’s because it is. Lensmen treat each performance as a unique event and are as at home in gallery and exhibition spaces as they are in clubs or festivals.

Drummer Jason Wilkinson describes Lensmen’s songs as “matches struck inside the abyss that briefly reveal the full horror but provide a comfort in the knowing.”

For Alun Hughes, stood at the microphone with the band storming behind him, it’s also all about putting voice to the anxieties of now and creating transcendent, transformative moments.

“...we stand alongside other contemporary artists who are creating work that talks about where we really are in our time. Airing difficult and painful questions that arise as we step over the threshold toward the truth we hold in our hearts; these are the stories we are committed to making.”


https://lensmen.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/lensmen101
Dark Lounge Management: lensmenband@gmail.com