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By: Mark Gomes
Date: 23rd Jun 08
Release: Album
To Cure: Hypertension
What:
Dream Island Laughing Language
Who:
Lucky Dragons
On:
Mistletone
Where:
Mistletone Shop / Missing Link
When:
Album out now. Australian tour in October
Related links:
MySpace / Lucky Dragons YouTube Channel
The nanotechnological dream of photosynthesizing computers appears within reach when listening to Lucky Dragons. While the Macs employed by the LA duo are probably the regular kind - plastic, circuits, software - the weird and near-total naturalism of their sound on umpteenth release, Dream Island Laughing Language, begs the question - are they not living things, inlaid with grass, coconut husk or animal skin? While everything here is excessively treated, chopped and processed, somehow it comes across as Natural History - ethnomusicological and live, suntanned and relaxed - like a bunch of geckos and undiscovered aboriginal life jamming together on some Tron-island beach.
Twenty-two tracks fly-by on the wind, light and sunny, but as complicated in detail as any rainforest walk. Players Luke Fischbeck and Sarah Rara push seemingly unlimited sound sources through the digital glass - tabla, shakers, wind-chimes, recorders - yet never unnecessarily pile up the layers. Tracks are short patterns that typically drop away once formed, with nothing overly laboured or 'meaningful' in a pop sense. But this is pop as regularly issued by Mistletone; unrecognisable, alien and joyful. Our closest touchpoint might be Black Dice circa Creature Comforts, or locals Snawklor, but even then we're still a way off.