Meet LUCIDBLOOM, a band from the Blue Mountains region of Sydney who craft a mesmerizing blend of hazy dream pop infused with expansive post-rock soundscapes. Their music, reminiscent of Warpaint, Howling Bells, and Cocteau Twins, is distinguished by its cinematic depth and strong pop sensibility, thanks to the band's refined songwriting skills. Vocal duties are shared between two sisters, Katrina (who also plays bass guitar) and Jennifer, supported by Brendan (guitar), Tom (synthesizer) and Astrid (drums).
Live, their performances appear visually as epic as their music: featuring synchronised lights, smoke and haze, they create a sensory experience that complements the music's apocalyptic themes, in part of their collaboration with lighting creatives SIRCUIT.
In the interview with Katrina and Jennifer to follow, we delve into the band’s origins and journey, learn about their creative process, and discover how they continue to push the boundaries of dreamy, cinematic music. Pop on their EP Calamity and read on…
We’ve all been part of other projects in the past, so when we came together to create LUCIDBLOOM, I think you can hear that there’s various nods to some of the formative genres that we loved growing up from grunge, shoegaze, post-rock, femme fronted indie bands (shout out to Hole, the Cranberries and Veruca Salt!). A few people say they get a very nostalgic feel from the songs - there’s a familiarity there but it’s also hard to neatly place into a genre.
As sisters, both of us have always been in different musical projects and collabs, from indie dance, to dark electronic pop to acapella choir projects, and we have always wanted to work on a project together, but for a long time we were on opposite sides of the globe. So when everything came to a stand still in the world and we found ourselves in the same place, it was a good opportunity to finally realise a project where we could combine creative forces!
We’ve joked that for this body of work our genre is ‘apopalyptic’ - making pop songs about the end of the world.
The music is very vocally driven and full of lushness and layers, and we like to play with interweaving harmonies that add both tension and reprieve throughout the songs.
We’ve got a love of dynamics and have a tendency to finish a song and then go….. Needs an epic outro! Overall, we wanted the songs to feel immersive and cinematic.
The Mountains have a sense of mystery, expansiveness and atmosphere to them, due to the mist and epic landscapes (and the cold) that probably does creep into the sound of the project.
It’s also a place prone to natural disasters, so having shared experiences of living through the bushfire seasons, flooding events, landslips and such has definitely impacted on the songs lyrically. The relationship between beauty and foreboding has certainly shaped our sound.
The initial songwriting for our EP was during the lockdowns. For this reason, most of them started as guitar and vocals, which were then taken into a band setting to morph into more complete arrangements. Many of the songs existed for a long time as sparse and almost ballad-like, so when we could all be together in the room, it was an iterative process to colour them in and realise their dynamic potential. A recurring theme that runs throughout the mood of our sound and our visuals, is the feeling of being within a lucid dream state, where reality feels distorted and there’s a slight haze that blankets everything.
Kat is the main lyricist, having spent many years working as a songwriter abroad, so there’s a lot of content to mine there, but she will often bring verses in to workshop with Jen, or write a first verse and then throw it out there to piece together the remainder of the song. Lyrics are approached in a fairly intuitive way. Usually they sort of float into being - and then there’s an opportunity to dive deeper into them, tweak and move and evolve. (And add a million harmonies.) The lyricism of the first EP is definitely connected to the surreal and uncertain state that we live in, so this flows throughout each song. Wondering when the next calamitous wave is approaching.
It’s more of a reflection and expression of how it felt to move through some isolating and uncertain times. The songs aren’t really written in narrative form, so there’s a lot of space for people to weave their own experiences and meaning into them.
We recorded the EP in the Blue Mountains (Woodford) at Studio 85 with Murray Sheridan. He’s got a great studio space and an awesome live room. So many hours go by when working in the studio so it helps to have a vibey atmosphere. After doing a lot of work with electronic producers, Kat was really keen to return to her roots, playing live with a band, so we visited a few studios before making the call.
Murray was great to work with and helped us meet the brief of crafting a collection of dreamy, epic, cinematic pop songs. We decided to go for a vinyl pressing because 1) none of us had had a vinyl release before 2) it allowed us to create something physical we could share with people who found a resonance with the music and 3) we could bring that visual element to the music via the cover design and the vinyl itself which is created from recycled PVC. Each vinyl is completely unique and beautiful, some are like hazy smoke clouds with flecks of gold, and others are a deep mottled purple. There is something special about having a physical iteration of your music in the age of digital streaming.
We’re lucky to have multi-talented creatives in the band and within our networks. Jen brings the art direction and marketing skills to the mix, Brendon is a graphic designer, and our collaboration with SIRCUIT has played a key role in the visual direction of the live shows and the lighting of our music videos. Mutual Gravity was Kat’s 11th music video so she has experience in scouting locations, writing music video treatments, and pulling together a team to make it all happen.
If permitted, a lot of haze and custom lighting elements to enhance the immersive experience of listening to the live show. The vocal harmonies are pretty front and centre and the instruments swell around them, receding and peaking through the set. I think some people get an extra dose of energy live, there’s maybe an expectation that things stay quite dreamy and slow, but we’ve worked hard to bring extra momentum and visual experience to the live show.
Our two Calamity EP release shows were incredible. Our Oxford Art Factory (Sydney) show was super special and we were blown away by the support from people that came and supported us and were the first to get their hands on the vinyl! SIRCUIT took it to the next level for our secret warehouse gig in the Blue Mountains, which we curated alongside some other acts. It felt like playing within an art installation, backlit by custom visuals and underneath a constellation of moving light bulbs. It was absolutely stunning, and unlike any venue we’ve played. The sense of community at that show was amazing, and we love curating interesting and emerging lineups that connect different communities together - so we’d like to do more pop up live performances and visual activations in the future.
We’re supporting Hayley Mary at Vic on the Park in Marrickville on Friday July 26th, which should be a good one!
After that we’d love to keep sharing the live show and the CALAMITY EP, while we start bringing new song ideas into the rehearsal space.
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