Sorry this took me so long, Tone! I hope you like what I have to say:
Mr. Lane sent me this album and requested a review. I told him that I would certainly listen to it, with the caveat that, I would give him the unvarnished truth, as I saw, or rather, heard it. He agreed.
Sounds like he had nothing to worry about.
The album reminds me of nothing so much as a more-organic version of the recent Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) solo material. In fact, at times, Lane’s voice sounds uncannily like that of Albarn. As I am a big fan of pretty much all of Albarn’s projects, this works decidedly in his favor. Also working in his favor is the fact that he is a cracking tunesmith, with an excellent ear for melody and the ability to create an intriguing lyric.
The album opens with “Crescent,” driven by electronic percussion and acoustic guitar. A flute adds some background color. And the arrangement subtlely builds, with new instruments being gradually added as the song progresses. A saxophone solo lends a little bit of an RnB influence without pulling the song into actual RnB territory—a little bit like Sting’s early solo material.
The strongest song on the album, however, is the truly engaging “Killing.”
“Killing is my business, and business is good” is one of the more-engaging lyrics that I have heard this year. From anyone. Set to a noir-ish minor key arrangement that reminds me of Albarn (of course) and also of the cinematic dark pop of Barry Adamson. (If you don’t know Adamson, please look him up. You’ll be glad you did.)
Really, the entire album is filled with dark, cinematic pop that is expertly produced. A truly evocative atmosphere hangs over the whole thing; a bit of a haze that imparts a dreamlike quality to Lane’s excellent songs.
The one knock that I do have against the album is that the strongest song appears on the album FIRST as a remix, and then, later on, in its original mix. I am sorry, but that original mix version, being the strongest song on the album, really should have appeared in the main flow of the album and not all the way at the end, as it does. Put the remix at the end, where it belongs. Of course, that said, the remix isn’t bad at all. It just belongs where it belongs (IMO, of course).
Nonetheless, in 2016—a year filled with some really great music—Look What We’ve Become is an album that really does hold its own amongst all the other great releases of the year. I will be coming back to it regularly, for a long time to come. Bravo, Mr. Lane!!!