I hope listeners connect to the record and feel something that five humans made, that is coming from a very real place,” Hazel Wilde shares. “I’d like to think folks can find a sense of hope in there too. The biggest takeaway for me is ironic because it links to one of the thematic threads in the album – that we can change our destiny by making that decision to change the path that we’re on. In a way we ended up in the multiverse with a different album and one which is far removed from that original version.” With qualities like this, aesthetic consistency is not a bad trait to have. If anything, Lanterns on the Lake seem to have fought to maintain it. The creation of Versions of Uswas fraught; an entire version of the album itself was recorded and scrapped. In the process, the group’s founding drummer left. What they’ve come up with, though, is a record that sounds especially suited to these fraught times while managing, after the impressive but sometimes unbearably bleak Spook the Herd (2020), to be their most accessible as well.

For the band – comprised of Hazel Wilde, Paul Gregory, Bob Allan, and Angela Chan – those years have been a time of tremendous self-reflection, personal growth, and change. For starters, their longtime drummer and pianist Oliver Ketteringham announced his departure in 2022, leaving the group he helped found fifteen years earlier. Radiohead’s Philip Selway ended up replacing him on drums and percussion, which is a whole story in its own right. With their fifth album, Versions O f Us, Lanterns on the Lake have created the most empowering and triumphant body of work of their career thus far. Yet this monumental record very nearly didn’t exist.

It’s a masterful work of art, and a resounding reminder that our humanity may be one of our biggest flaws, but it’s also our greatest strength.

The name of the album is taken from a line in the song “String Theory,” where Wilde sings about multiverses: The group provided the theme song 'Don't Have Nightmares' written especially for the hit BBC podcast series Uncanny, presented by Danny Robins. [28]In 2023 BBC2 aired the first 3 episodes of the Uncanny television series which also featured the group's theme song. [29] Members [ edit ] Current [ edit ] Given some of its themes, a biting irony is found in an entire previous version of the record being discarded. Mental health struggles and personal problems in the band had a big impact on how the initial version took shape. “Despite trying everything we could to make it work we reached the point where we just had to stop” Wilde explains. Drummer, Ol Ketteringham, parted ways with the band, something Wilde says was “ heartbreakingly difficult as we were and still are extremely close”. The band scrapped nearly a year’s worth of work, regressing to song demos with just Wilde performing with a single instrument as they began again with Radiohead’s Philip Selwayjoining the album sessions on drums and percussion. The band played a host of music festivals including End of the Road Festival, Glastonbury Festival, [3] SXSW, and Bestival.The nine songs of Versions Of Us are existential meditations examining life’s possibilities; facing the hand we’ve been dealt and the question of whether we can change our individual and collective destinies. Singer and songwriter Hazel Wilde has no doubt that motherhood fundamentally shifted her perspective. “Writing songs requires a certain level of self-indulgence, and songwriters can be prone to dwelling on themselves,” she says. “Motherhood made me aware of having a different stake in the world. I’ve got to believe that there’s a better way and an alternative future to the one we’ve been hurtling towards. I’ve also got to believe that I could be better as a person, too.”

It’s fair to say that with all these changes, Lanterns changed the destiny of their fifth record. It’s an irony that’s not lost on Wilde and Gregory, given that a huge theme of the record is destiny and fate, and whether we can change our path in life. These were all lyrics that existed before the initial album was scrapped – they weren’t changed to reflect the turmoil the band had been through. This sense of hope permeates Versions O f Us more than any other Lanterns record. On The Likes O f Us, Wilde steels her resolve despite the state of things, her glorious vocals soaring over Angela Chan’s glittering strings and Bob Allan’s delicate bass line, ending with the determined repetition of the mantra-like “ I won’t let this spark die in me” . It displays the cavernous sound we’ve come to expect from Lanterns, yet Versions O f Us is more austere in its instrumentation than previous offerings. During this period Lanterns on the Lake supported Explosions in the Sky on their UK tour including the O2 Academy, Brixton. [8] The band has also toured with Low, including a performance at the Royal Festival Hall in London [9] and with Yann Tiersen, including a performance at The Roundhouse. [10] Until the Colours Run (2013) [ edit ]Summertime romance, making love, and glistening in the sunlight”: The Sweet, Love-Soaked Seduction of Milan Ring’s Juicy “Mangos” November 28, 2023 To add to this, we knew that Ol, our drummer and best mate, was not going to be continuing with us. So much took place within the space of just a couple of weeks as we put plans into place to start again and it was an emotional and stressful time to be honest. There were some other things going on for me personally, too, which added to that emotion and stress.” The Likes Of Us In a time where the future can feel uncertain and there’s a lot of negativity and chaos, this song is about believing in other possibilities and it’s about not letting other people steal that sense of hope from you.