LANY: Self Titled Album
Synth Pop Is Coming Back, And People In The Alternative Scene Are LOVING It!
LANY is an indie pop band made up of three members from Los Angeles, California that formed only a few years ago in 2014. The members by name are Paul Klein, Charles Priest, and Jake Goss. Paul is the lead singer,who had a solo career previous to LANY. They formed when Paul made the decision to fly to Nashville to meet up with the remainder of the group in march of 2014. They released a series of EP’s from 2014-2016, releasing their self titled debut album in 2017.
The album itself is a combination of pop ballad and synth pop in the sound of each song. Throughout the album you hear both intimate ballads with an electronic or synth basis, along with Synth pop songs that are reminiscent to a day in the summer with your windows down. Their sound is hard to describe without using words like ‘indie’, ‘synth’, and ‘ballad’ because of the fact that it's hard to pinpoint. Not to say there aren't parts of each song that resemble each of those descriptors, but they are more of a combination than anything else. As a listener, you will be able to hear the rock influences, the 80’s influences, as well as general pop influences all throughout the album.
Lyrically the album is influenced by relationships, especially in their most popular songs on the album such as Super far, ILYSB, and 13. ILYSB was originally released in their 2015 EP Make out and is essentially a love song. He talks about how much he adores his lover and even refers to her in a “the one” mentality. The big lyrics here that step out for me was “you need to know, You’re the only one alright”, my interpretation here was that what he means that she’s ‘the one’. In songs like super far and 13 , LANY starts talking about a relationship falling apart. Some of the lyrics that form this theme are “waking up to nothing when you’re super far from home” in Super Far and “Where did i go wrong, or did you change your mind” in 13. The album goes further to highlight lovers and loved lost, and love that's missed.
As a content creator and fellow music lover, my personal favorite song would have to be Hericane because the song has so much emotion and gives me a sense of empathy. The song is a relaxing and calming but at the same time you can feel the emotions that paul is singing about. The lyric that hits you with the intense emotion is “But I love you still, I always will But you're the one in the wrong”. This lyric is bare and emotional, He’s saying that even though she’s wrong he will always love her. The whole song is insinuated to be about his mother, and about how her insecurities or disagreements with paul is wrecking their relationship. This song has so much of a personality to it, very bare, and raw emotion which is so touching to hear as a listener.
LANY is a band that highlights love, loss, and the chasing love along with ballad songs. The songs throughout the album talk about Paul’s relationships and conveys how he feels during those times. They are yet another band bringing back synth pop and unique electronica aspects into their pop rock vibe. This is an up and coming sound in the alternative scene, such as The 1975’s most recent album I Like It When You Sleep, For You’re so beautiful yet so unaware of it that brings the same type of synth pop and electronica aspects. I expect big things for LANY in the alternative music community.