Lanterna

Sands (Badman)
by Scott Hefflon

Last year’s Elm Street was a true gem, and Lantera‘s latest release of mellow guitar soundscapes, Sands, follows quietly in its lone footprints in the sand (sorry, couldn’t resist). Guitarist Henry Frayne, born in NYC, raised in Champaign, Illinois, does more than make his reverb-drenched guitar gently weep, he compliments his introspective, moonlit drives with faint smiles and sunshine, leafy-lanes, meandering wooded roads, and fond memories playing hide-and-seek behind rock outcroppings, bold, sturdy trees, and upcoming swells and gentle twists in the road. Incorporating occasional drum loops (think Pet Shop Boys’ Behavior), and low-key vocals (very faint, like a memory rather than a vocal insistent on your deciphering the lyrics), Sands may be a little New Agey for some, but its caress is like a blossoming smile on a child’s face, a sleeping puppy in a patch of sunlight, or (ahem), a car commercial showing a carload of people daydreaming, glad to be together yet silent, each lost in their own thoughts, happy to be alive and feeling the sun and wind of a beautiful day.
(1388 Haight St. #211 San Francisco, CA 94117)