Though they've been around since 2001, the Los Angeles trio who call themselves Lucid Fly are anything but a household name, and other than a wealth of live shows around their hometown area of Orlando, Florida and more recently in California where they now reside, the world at large hasn't yet to take notice. That sure might change with the release of Building Castles in Air, their brand new debut full-length release for Hour Eleven Music / Vanity Music Group, a 10 song album brimming with powerful vocals, engaging melodies, and catchy musical arrangements that drip with gothic, prog-rock, alternative, and hard rock flavors.
The band features the talents of Nikki Layne on vocals, guitarist Doug Mecca, and drummer Aaron Ficca, but don't be fooled by the fact that this is just a trio, as the music on Building Castles in Air is majestic and rich with many colors, tones, and moods. Layne's vocals are smooth and emotional drifting and soaring over intoxicating songs such as "Paperthin", "No I in Voice", "Visions of Grandeur", and the upbeat yet moody "Ribbons". The majority of the songs are compact and less than 5-minutes in length, as the band opt for tight arrangements that let the vocal melodies take center stage rather than indulge in lengthy instrumental workouts, which you can hear on the engaging "Billowy and Broken", a tune filled with effective guitar riffs, ethereal keys, crips rhythms, and Layne's emotional delivery. "The Opposite" and "Follow Through" both rock pretty hard, but neither these nor anything else here on Building Castles in Air really goes full bore into out and out heavy metal, or complete progressive rock for that matter, but the band kind of straddle that fine line between both fairly often, which makes for a more than pleasing listen.
In the end, Building Castles in Air is easy to recommend, an album full of dreamy melodies, catchy arrangements, and top notch vocals, signaling the arrival of a band who seem ready to take their career to the next level. Fans of Evanescence, A Perfect Circle, Muse, District 97, and Within Temptation certainly will want to investigate this one right away.
Track Listing
01 – Billowy and Broken
02 – Circles Into Squares
03 – Mascot
04 – No I In Voice
05 – Ribbons
06 – Visions of Grandeur
07 – Follow Through
08 – Next To Strange
09 – The Opposite
10 – Paperthin
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