Sands

Album Review

Lanterna's Henry Frayne created an ethereal masterpiece with the ten-track Sands. The airy and wondrous layers of sound on the opening track, "West Side Highway," give way to the spaced-out title track and the acoustic guitar-based "Windward." Frayne recorded rough mixes of the songs on Sands over the course of a few weeks, adding drum loops and vocals in select spots. The result is a startlingly fresh and ambient combination of sounds. Lanterna has been compared to Brian Eno and Flying Saucer Attack, yet Frayne and Steve Day, who added precision to the disc's rhythmic tracks, are continually able to create new and symphonic pictures of sound. Guitar, tambourine, bass, chimes, synthesizer, and background vocals combine to create songs full of texture and stretched-out instrumentals. Frayne's guitar work is especially enchanting on "Greek Island," and the synthesizer and drum beats on "Atlantic" are uniquely hypnotic. The violin and intricate guitar on "Lonely" make it clear that Frayne set out to make an album that was diverse in sound and mood. Frayne, Brett Sanderson, and Garenne Bigby mixed the disc, which was released by San Francisco's Badman Recording Company in 2002.