Curse of Lono

Normally when one says “Blink and you’ll miss it” it suggests that the speed is too great and the experience fleeting. In the case of Curse of Lono it means that the music draws you in so deeply that when it finishes you will blink in shock that you’ve been under its spell for the who time.

Felix Bechtolsheimer was a founding member of Hey Negrita, a brilliant Americana band who were about some years back. Since Hey Negrita he has been making movies and the images and landscapes are an integral part of this brilliant new project.
Bechtolsheimer told us “We had released four records, toured all over the world, played at more festivals than I can remember and had a great time doing it but there was a growing sense that we had taken things as far as we could. It was time for something new,” Felix explains. “Then I bumped into my old friend Oli from the band BOXED IN, who was producing albums for Domino and Nettwerk as well as working on a solo record. He was involved in a completely different scene, obsessed with Krautrock and Radiohead, which really opened my eyes to new ways of writing and recording. We started playing around with some of the songs I was working on and within a few weeks we had a finished.”

Put simply, this is Americana describing a journey through the soul – it is dark and occasionally unlovely but utterly, utterly mesmeric.

The four tracks here are all very different from one another from the beautiful Americana of ‘Five Miles’ with its echoes of America (the band) and stunning guitar from Joe Hazell and sublime harmonies to ‘London Rain’ bringing the darkness and a hard edge and then to ‘He Takes My Place’ – singer/songwritery with Felix’ vocals over a droning harmonium and acoustic – and finally ‘Saturday Night’ summing up the kind of Saturday night/Sunday morning hell we all remember.

Definitely one of the most listenable EPs I’ve heard this year; welcome back Mr Bechtolsheimer.


The video attached here is part of the Sofar Sessions