Hypatia Lake
I’m on the phone with Lance Watkins, mastermind and lead singer of Hypatia Lake, checking in to see how their West Coast tour is going. He tells me they are currently huddled around a lantern and a loaf of Italian bread, in San Simeon State park in California after playing killer shows in San Francisco, Long Beach, and Los Angeles. Their new album, Angels and Demons, Space and Time, is being hailed as one of the most transcendental and skillfully produced albums in the experimental psychedelic rock genre. Released by Reverb Records and recorded/engineered by Scott Colburn (Arcade Fire, Animal Collective, Sun City Girls), Hypatia Lake’s intimate and eclectic songs are truly a psychedelic masterpiece.
With Randall Skrasek on guitar and back-up vocals, Shane Browning on bass and back-up vocals, Dave Foley on drums, occasionally joined by Sky Lynn on back-up vocals/percussion, and Lance Watkins- lead guitar/vocals and songwriter; together they weave a fairytale of music about the fictional place of Hypatia Lake and the make-believe characters contained therein. Inspired by The Point, a fable by American songwriter and musician Harry Nilsson, Lance conceptionalized the town of Hypatia Lake and brings it to life with the help of his bandmates. The name Hypatia comes from ancient Greece, Hypatia of Alexandria born between AD 350 and 370, a Greek scholar from Alexandria in Egypt, considered the first notable woman in mathematics, who also taught philosophy and astronomy. Not surprisingly, Hypatia Lake’s lyrics incorporate philosphy, metaphysics, and esoteric themes. When listening to their music, your ears are not only delighted and stimulated by the variety of dreamy sounds that come through, your mind is simultaneously aroused and enlivened by the depth of thought and information of the lyrics. This is intelligent, well-written music with an unstructured ambient soul and a satisfying palette of sounds ranging from neo-folk to shoegaze to true Seattle rock. The mind-sweeping trancy effects of their music are punctuated satisfyingly with interludes of heart swelling guitar solos that keep you awake and pumped without jarring you out of your senses. Most shoegaze bands will put you to sleep while other hard/indie rock bands sing songs that make you feel angry or depressed with noise that hits you like a car crash. Hypatia Lake seamlessly blends the best of the best along with a healthy dose of the unexpected.
Their live shows are complete with their very own visual projectionist, Ben Jones. It is a total package. Even if you don’t typically listen to psychedlic rock and find youself at dance clubs on the weekends- you should really give this a try. It’s a very stimulating experience and a complete departure from the usual. This is not your typical self-absorbed, self-pitying Seattle rock band making a play for a big break. They are saturated with pure creativity and experiment with sound and thought for its own sake- it is very rejuvenating and inspiring to be present at one of their lives shows. Hypatia Lake sets themselves apart not only through the quality of their sound but, also through the selfless, fun-loving character of their presence.
You can catch them at The Comet, September 26th with Spirit Vine and Rocking Horse People. Until then, you can read about their adventures from tour, like the phantom deer that they saw bounding across a huge San Fransican cemetary last week, on their myspace page www.myspace.com/hypatialake or at www.hypatialake.com. Hypatia Lake deserves the spotlight they are in. Theirs is a sound that has been cultivated with alot of care and thought over the last 8 years and they deliver with a purity and rawness that every music lover can appreciate. Hypatia Lake’s soul is the last unicorn of Seattle rock. Satisfy your curiousity and check them out! Their live show is reward you deserve.
Written and photographed by January Fieldz
D-List Magazine, September 2008
www.dlistmagazine.com
