Stream shoegaze vets Lanterna's new album 'Hidden Drives'

Henry Frayne has been making ethereal, mostly instrumental shoegaze as Lanterna for 30 years. (He’s also a veteran of many Champaign-Urbana groups including ¡Ack-Ack!, Area, and The Moon Seven Times.) Hidden Drives is the seventh Lanterna album and first since 2015’s Backyards, which finds Frayne exploring some new sonic territory. “Hidden Drives features more electric guitar and synthesizer than previous efforts,” Frayne says, adding “Most of the songs were written on an old Gibson SG with or without cascading digital echoes suggesting additional harmonies and melody lines.”

Frayne mixes those new synth and plugged-in textures with layers of acoustic guitars and the drumming of longtime collaborator Eric Gebow for a expansive and cinematic sound. The album also features five remixes by its engineer, Mike Brosco. “This gives one a chance to enjoy those instrumental parts that might otherwise go unnoticed on the more upbeat songs,” says Frayne. “As a listener, I wish more bands would do this.”

The artwork, featuring photography by Kevin Salemme and design by Bruce Licher (Savage Republic / Independent Projects) is gorgeous too, and, as always, all feels like it comes from the same surreal parallel world.

Hidden Drives is out June 4 via Badman Recording Company (preorder) but we’re premiering a stream of the whole thing in this post. Listen below.