Lucky Dragons, "Dream Island Laughing Language"
Released in both CD and 12” vinyl formats, with five bonus cuts on the CD, Dream Island Laughing Language has a happy homemade intensity blending sounds gleaned from natural instruments such as bells, bowls, flutes, mini- dulcimer, mbira, hands, rubber bands and...rocks, as well as those derived from cassettes and computers.
Lucky Dragons' symbolic band name (named after a Japanese fishing boat that became a symbol of anti-nuclear feeling after it was snagged in the fallout of a US hydrogen bomb test), their pseudo digital ragas and electro-acoustic mandalas, their slacker looks and preposterous promo blurb lead me to the inescapable conclusion that... here's a band to get behind. This is their eighteenth release since the spring of 2000. The “dream island” part of the album title refers to the landfill in Tokyo harbor where the boat now resides and the “laughing language” bit harks toward the idea that some things cannot be expressed in our own languages.
Starting with the self-explanatory “Clipped Gongs” Dream Island has enough contrast in pacing and texture to hold the shortest of attention spans. Luke Fischbeck is the hinge on which the whole Lucky Dragons project swings. He also sings a little in nicely resonant tones. Indeed, on “Drinking Dirty Water” his singing has the calm appeal of Brian Eno’s pastoral pastel period. “Desert Rose” is an addictive piece of frenetic yet spacious percussion. “Starter Culture” sounds stretched and ethereal and rather like how I imagine weasels with rain sticks might interpret Animal Collective. A live performance by Lucky Dragons might be something to see (and maybe participate in). Things continue in this flashy vein until the opening section of final track “Very 2,” which shows how the group can use a more full sound as a means to progress.
Dream Island Laughing Language is a pretty convincing record, albeit one that with a fairly narrow appeal. There remains the nagging doubt about Fischbeck and Sarah Rara's claim that they play “poppies” although that may be another reason to support them.
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