The Lake Isle Preview New Track “Steel Rails”

last month i had the pleasure of listening to one of greensboro’s newer bands The Lake Isle play a set at The Green Bean. at the time my band was loading in, and admittedly my first concern wasn’t paying attention to a set by another band i hadn’t heard of. but i was caught off guard and pleasantly surprised and ended up really enjoying their set. on their blog they give themselves the “dream pop” label but i’m not sure that does them justice, they employ a lot of really beautiful and simultaneously nervous textures in their songs that challenge the “pop” part of that description and push them into alternative territory. additionally, their guitarist was getting some cool atmospheric tones with his POG2 pedal that i haven’t yet to figured out how to achieve. maybe he’ll give me some lessons.

yesterday, the band posted a new entry on their site previewing a new track entitled “Steel Rails.” like the first track “Virginia” (which you can listen to here) on their previous LP Terrible Beauties, “Steel Rails” uses spaced-out guitars to reinforce the nervous energy of the vocals, and when the drums & bass make their tight entrance, they round out the equation for a great listen. i was surprised at the sonic bigness of the sound they were able to achieve at the Green Bean, and that characteristic carries through on their recordings as well. check their myspace for more listening and show dates, including another appearance at the Green Bean in september with a cool band from winston.