Heathen Harvest
cd reviews • May 2008
Gorebatjov
Lonesome Sky
HeathenHarvest.com

Artist: The Lost Patrol (United States)
Title: Lonesome Sky
Label: Self Released
Genre: Synthpop / Folk / Dark Pop

01 Cup at my krater
02 Mayday
03 Velveteen
04 Lonesome sky
05 Neon red
06 Tragedy of me
07 Heaven herein
08 Run wild
09 Blue bikini
10 Stars collide
11 These eyes

   Not all releases send to Heathen Harvest have the same fate. Some are reviewed within two days, others can (for no evident reason) just sit in the cabinet for months. “Lonesome sky” is one of those releases who have sat there for way to long and get reviewed after a terrible length of time. This isn’t because of the music on the CD, or the artwork or the band; this just happens. And “Lonesome sky” is definitely worth the wait.

   The lost patrol self-released this release in the end of September of the year 2005. This date can be pretty conceiving though, as “Lonesome sky” sounds like it is a remastered version of 80’s releases in the GDR dark pop era. The voice of Daniëlle, the singer of The Lost Patrol holds the capability to control the songs and the listener’s mood. The Lost Patrol succeeds in making tracks which sound like folk influenced surf songs, trip-hop influenced rock and Goth influenced ballads. Excellent musicianship and supreme compositions combined with a great recorded and produced sound gives “Lonesome sky” a perfect ten. It is a revival of 80’s dark pop with additional extras.

   Although every song on “Lonesome sky” is very much worth mentioning, there are a few which stand out in the crowd. The first track “Cup at my krater” is an excellent piece of emotional acoustic folk guitars and the singing strikes the listener within the first seconds. The 12-string guitars and electronically-revived string-quartet on the background create the perfect surrounding for the feeling of happiness or sorrow. Another beautiful track is “Tragedy of me”, sung by Michael the guitar player. Also a fantastic piece of art with marvelous lyrics and an amazing feeling to it. The Lost Patrol is capable of creating those ballads with actual feeling in them, instead of just ‘sad’ songs. Also here the production shows, with the dubbed vocals and the inserted strings on the background. Something else but nonetheless another good one to mention is “Run wild” which is almost like a Western cowboy song dripping from Synthpop influences. It doesn’t happen much that I hear something that I really haven’t heard before, but the chosen structure and arrangement of “Run wild” is certainly something I have never seen or heard before. Especially the ‘yeehoo!’ on the end of the song is worth to notice.

   “Lonesome sky” is as diverse as the community of Berlin. Although jumping from genre to genre and from style to style doesn’t work on CD’s most of the time, the Lost Patrol is able to do this in the best way possible. It would have been a setback if they didn’t shifted so fast and it is yet a secret to me how they came together with this excellent tracklist. The musicianship of the Lost Patrol is of a quality seen way to less nowadays. I bet that the band is able to create almost any style of music and still succeed in making a good record. Those who are interested in remarking compositions and mixes of various, previously unmixed, songs and song structures get updated with this band. The beautiful ballads will enjoy anyone interested in good music and the ‘special’ songs will only enthusiast more to listen more or create music for their selves.

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