Light Field Reverie - Another World

One of the greatest things about music is its ability to transport you to a place or time, to invoke strong emotions in ways you may not expect, or to elevate mundane situations into something magical.

I’ve spent much of my life drawn to music at the darker end of the spectrum, particularly metal. It is a genre you can appreciate for the technical wizardry of the musicians, sure, but metal has a way of exploring emotions and subject matter that other genres tend to steer well clear of.

Doom

Doom is a sub-genre of metal that is at the slower end of the spectrum, often with clean vocals and droning, thick-sounding guitars and lyrics that explore themes of depression, despair and sorrow. Black Sabbath were the progenitors of metal as a genre, but they were initially at the doom-y end of the spectrum.

From here it split off in different directions, with death-doom at one end and atmospheric doom at the other. Light Field Reverie’s Another World is at the atmospheric end.

The band comprises Heike Langhans (vocals, synths) and Mike Lamb (guitar, synths, drums), with Scotty Lodge on bass. Together they weave Heike’s haunting vocals with synths, droning guitars and drumming that will make Type O Negative fans feel right at home.

However, lyrically, Another World is very different. It is strangely uplifting, almost hopeful.

what I will say about “Ultraviolet”, is that it’s a love-story that should inspire people to follow their hearts. No matter how far away and hard the road ahead may seem. The violet fire that burns in us is all-powerful. https://www.femmemetalwebzine.net/interviews/light-field-reverie-an-interview-with-heike-langhans-and-mike-lamb/ LIGHT FIELD REVERIE – An Interview with Heike Langhans and Mike Lamb

Mixed in with these tracks are a number of samples that give some hint towards the inspiration for that particular song. For example, The Oldest House was inspired by the video game “Control”; Dreamwalker is a call-back to one of Heike’s other projects (:LOR3L3I:) but features a monologue from a character in the X-Files TV show, performed by Jerry Hardin.

I was first struck by the absence of time, having depended on it so completely as a measure of my self and my life; moving backwards into the perpetual night it consumes purpose, indeed, all passion and will. I come to you, old friend with a dull clarity of the dead not to beckon you, but to feel the fire and intensity that still live in you… and the heavy weight of your burdens which I had once borne. There is truth you know, friend, if that’s all you seek but there’s no justice or judgment without which truth is a vast… dead… hollow. Go back. Do not look into the abyss or let the abyss look into you; awaken the sleep of reason and fight the monsters within and without. The Blessing Way – X-Files – Season 3

As monologues go, it is difficult to not be moved by it. It is an instruction to not judge our place in life by the time that has elapsed. Not one of us is guaranteed a tomorrow, so you have to get up and fight for today.

The Never-ending Story

Children of the 80s will no doubt be familiar with The Never-ending Story. It was a fairly respectable “family” film that many will have rented from whatever the mid-80s video store was in your town.

However, for a family film, the plot was much darker than I had remembered –apparently the innocence of youth allowed the themes of depression and despair running through it sail over my head. The title track Another World features a sample from the movie, which we’ll get into shortly, but the main antagonist of The Never-ending Story is “The Nothing”.

The Nothing, viewed from the perspective of someone who is somewhat familiar with the darkness, is the void we find ourselves in.

It’s true of all therapy, but especially true of therapy for depression, which in many of its forms can be usefully considered a surrender to The Nothing. The Neverending Story Applied to Therapy – Psychology Today

There’s an exchange in the movie between the main character, Atreyu and G’mork, a werewolf servant of The Nothing. It goes a little something like this:

Atreyu: Why is Fantasia dying then?

G’mork: Because people have begun to lose their hopes and forget their dreams. So, the Nothing grows stronger.

Atreyu: What is the Nothing?

G’mork: It’s the emptiness that’s left. It is like a despair destroying this world. And I have been trying to help it.

Atreyu: But why?

G’mork: People who have no hopes are easy to control. And whoever has the control, has the power.

The Never-ending Story (1984) by Wolfgang Petersen based on the novel by Michael Ende

People who have no hopes are easy to control. This, in the context of the early 2020s, with pandemics, war, growing inequality and the unwelcome rise of fascism adds a new significance to this family film from the 80s. Many of us will have grown up in a world where the dreams our parents had for us, or we may have had for ourselves feels increasingly unrealistic.

Yet, Another World as an album may leave you feeling strangely hopeful. Sonically, it is a beautiful, engaging and Heike’s vocals really hit the spot, but lyrically it may hit you in places you didn’t expect.

You can find this album on Bandcamp, as well as the usual streaming services.