Hailing from Belgium, songwriter, lyricist, singer and keyboardist lyra messier has been around for almost a decade. In December 2023 she launched the self-titled album, which sees her blending together influences ranging from progressive/post rock, electronica, shoegaze, and math-esque rock together to form this mélange of amazingly enjoyable music. It’s fast, slow, heavy, light, crushing, light; everything all at the same time. It is hard to explain this record and yet, so easy to understand everything that is happening.
Bursts of emotion and intensity like the opener “Frighten”; the bottom layer of slow epic synth holds up the fractured percussion/bass. All the different sounds and textures add to this incoming tidal wave that is “lyra messier”: a stunning example of how to expand the sounds of instruments. This record has rises and falls, climaxes, explosions of intensity, etc. The thing that makes it so different is the small little tweaks Lyra and fellow musicians (Jo Griffin and Dan Romer) made, and huge leap of using mostly electronic sounds in their music.
Although using mostly electronic instruments in music is not a new idea, their application is very fresh. There are no weak songs on this record. There are some parts which could have been extended, and sometimes it feels as if the drums are too overpowering compared to everything else. Over all, the record is quite consistent in staying interesting.
The complexity of this record seems to be derived from its simplicity: there are no solos, insane guitar riffs, piano runs, odd time signature jumps, or unfamiliar keys. The beauty is extracted from the sum of all it’s parts working in a wonderful harmony that is consistent, fresh, interesting, and most of all: lively.
The beauty of this record is extracted from the sum of all its parts working in a wonderful harmony that is consistent, fresh, interesting, and most of all: lively.
