There’s some pretty big releases planned for the year when it comes to math rock and experimental music, but as always the dates are hardly lined up. Some weeks are stacked, some months not much happens worth sitting down and telling everyone about. Honestly, we were prepared for the latter when a full LP release caught our eye on Bandcamp courtesy of Lahnah.
Also, to stay completely honest here, we were at work perusing the ‘math rock’ tag while checking every few minutes we weren’t missing some kind of phone call or message, and we say that because it wasn’t the music that got us. The artwork, courtesy of artist Chop the Head, was impossible to ignore. We even hit play without fulling putting our headphones on, and even then, we could tell this was one for the Release-o-Meter.
Math rockers generally have personal van diagrams with prog and psychedelic genres, often translating to an appreciation for a gamut of modern freaks, from Viagra Boys and Tropical Fuck Storm to Perfect or Spirit of the Beehive. Lahnah feels like a band that would logically play on a tour with any of them.
The record open with a clever little ‘three’ pun, and you think it’s gonna just be a wonky math rock joint but no, seconds in and things shift to something layered up and dark verging on black metal? Then we’re doing sort of a Frank Zappa thing? Seriously, this is all within a minute and a few seconds of playtime.
Eventually, a scope does come into focus, and though its range is massive it’s also meticulously curated to the point of feeling deeply personal. One of our favorite tracks, single “Raunchadelic,” is an ode to a time in our lives that sometimes we just black out and pretend doesn’t exist, and to hear them speak it all so plainly was oddly healing. Not in a “yeah, let’s go back!” way, more of a “yeah… I guess we did survive that!” kind of way, and it’s just one example of Lahnah’s surprising depth.
Yeah, it struts and spits and fucks all over the place, but it also tells you something deep. Surreal and disturbing too, but deep. If David Lynch were still here, we could see him calling it “incredible.” So all in all, if you’re looking for something silly, scary, and absolutely engrossing, Lahnah’s self-titled is going to get under your skin fast. Don’t be surprised when you see it again on people’s short lists for favorite indie releases of the year.
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