The Northern Lighthouse Board - Lost Worlds

Released: September 4

While I may have missed the original release of this album sometime late last year, the recent cassette re-release is a wonderful opportunity to check in with that  The Northern Lighthouse Board has been up to. And to that end, Lost Worlds is an album that does not disappoint. Northern Lighthouse Board is project that manages to really hit all the notes of mystery, spookiness, and wonder in a single album and this one is nothing if not an exemplary display of that. It’s not quite accurate to say the whole album is just haunting; there’s more to it than that. A keen example is found in “A World Within a World.” Pieces of it may say haunting, but its overall vibe is one of deep existential mystery - a slow spinning sensation on an elongated orbit, feeling almost like a derelict celestial body. It circles around itself  with slight inconsistencies that add to that mysterious air. 

But one of the most haunting tracks comes at the very beginning with “Secret Worship.” There is that sense of mystery but it is overtaken by this somewhat racing motion, a sense of tension even. Which is actually something that is a repeated element throughout the album. There’s always a sense of odd movement in each track that isn’t what you could call off-kilter or even somewhat staggered. Instead, it manifests itself (in the case of “Secret Worship”) as this slow ebb and flow as we feel pieces fade in and out at mostly even intervals. The elements of the track feel as though they disappear intermittently but this feels inaccurate as well. It feels rather smoke and mirrors much of the time, pushing that sense of mystery into new directions constantly. 

The overall mostly minimalist approach to writing and composing is another factor that seems to add to the air of mystery and intrigue. While modern in its sound design, the album gives a sense of Medieval or Renaissance era, like the kind you would see in films rather than historical references. The sound design itself veers much closer to the 70s and 80s with analog synthesis and impossibly airy reverb effects. It is this lovely blend of a more modern sound combined with the echoes of a past that we are more and more far removed from, resulting in a fascinating and pleasant bit of modern esoterica.