W. H. Lung Incidental Music
W.H. Lung have managed something quite remarkable with this record.
When I first saw W.H. Lung live, I was absolutely blown away.
This is a surprise, given that the Manchester band, who are named after a cash and carry, was initially conceived as a studio project. Singer Joseph Evans is a talismanic figure and their music pounds and transfixes, seeping into your psyche and producing an almost hallucinatory experience.
Translating that onto record is a huge challenge, but with the release of their debut album, Incidental Music, W.H. Lung have managed to bottle the essence of their genius. A pulsating energy forms the core of their music, crackling through eight eclectic tracks. Their sound encompasses a myriad of influences, but the one constant is the call to dance. Superbly crafted, their music feels like a shamanic ritual, a trance-like hedonism which rattles your bones and infests the core of your being.
Containing elements of pop, krautrock, psychedelia and electronica, Incidental Music harnesses the band’s electricity and focuses it in a way which allows their sound to continually morph and evolve. Opening with the tribalistic and synth-driven ‘Simpatico People’, they whirl and shimmy through the unstoppable ‘Bring It On’ to the hypnotic beats of ‘Inspiration’.
W.H. Lung have managed something quite remarkable with this record. They’ve crafted a multi-layered and sonically dense record which also floats and soars. It’s on the nirvana-inducing ‘Nothing is’ where they reach their zenith, a song which is so brilliantly crafted and utterly joyous that you’ll never want it to end.
