An impressive ten-track musical trip through a starry desert night.
As with previous releases from Lancashire-based Ian M Bailey, the psychedelic cosmic country influences of greats like Gram Parsons and David Crosby are evident on “Lost In A Sound”. Themes of nature, the sun, and the sea guide us through a ten-track exploration of the human experience, all set to a contemporary take on the Laurel Canyon sound Bailey has come to perfect, this album is an incredibly special journey into the hazy world of spacey thoughts and wide-open spaces.
Somewhat an album of two halves as Bailey explores nights in the desert as well as the depths of the ocean, the songwriting from Bailey and Daniel Wylie of Cosmic Rough Riders is of a consistently creative quality throughout. Following on from Bailey’s last three albums, “Lost In A Sound” completes a quartet of records from the two creatives that are deceptively powerful. Beyond the songwriting, the musical arrangement is of a remarkable quality, immediately transporting the listener straight to the West Coast of the United States.
Moments of string-induced grandeur on ‘White Whale’ takes the spacey track beyond its country beginnings as sweeping strings and a steady percussive rhythm truly are “dancing out in harmony.” Many of the tracks, as on ‘Deep Blue’, have a nice reliance on electric guitar, his Rickenbacker having become a signature for Bailey, grounding each from becoming too spacey.
‘New Years Eve 2010’ is a possible album highlight, the break-up song sees Bailey lamenting that “A house full of memories is everything that I have left” and is perhaps the track set closest to reality throughout the album. A mid-point in the album that sees Bailey returning to Earth – at least for a little while.
The instrumental track that pushes into ‘Welcome To The Desert’ showcases Bailey and Wylie’s arrangements with a nice swing moving into a country-funk feel that wouldn’t be out of place with a southern jam band. Bailey inadvertently captures the perfect description of his own sound on the stand out track: musically, it’s a “scenery for dreamers.”
Sonically acting as somewhat of an ode to the California country greats that have a legacy in Bailey’s sound, ‘Never Read The Signs’, sees the singer reflecting on his musical identity and humanness. Intricately woven into the lyrics sits an analogy for the chaotic society we’re living in, one that whether we’re from California or Europe, we can all see that there might be “rain-a-falling’, storm-a-calling, on a cold night black as coal.”
In contrast, ‘Don’t Let The Garden Die’ picks up spirits with a Gene Clark sound and a celebration of nature that John Denver would be impressed by (if John Denver was high). A nice reminder that the world will keep spinning as long as we “just dig the ground around my friend and sow these seeds of new”.
As the forty-minute listen comes to a close, a dizzyingly spacey feeling remain – both Bailey and the listener really have been lost in a sound.
