THE LOST PATROL - "Rocket Surgery"

The Shadows-meet-Joy Division. Meet Ennio Morricone. Meet David Lynch. And that’s just for starters. Indeed, The Lost Patrol’s sonic spaghetti Western-in-the-sky belies their New York roots. Like stars that only come forth well beyond city limits, the band’s influences are legion, yet the product they yield is as singular as a life-bearing planet.

The Lost Patrol’s third album in as many years, the beautifully produced Rocket Surgery (2011) carries the listener ever-deeper into a void untouched by the commercial mainstream. “A softer touch / A face so sweet / A lust for blood / Awakes the beast,” croons vocalist Mollie Israel on the album’s opener, “Dead or Alive”, a vintage tune propelled by the sleepy determination of Michael Williams’s four-four 12-string and lead guitarist Stephen Masucci’s sparkling reverb.

Rocket Surgery’s centerpiece is a star-dusted homage to ’50s torch songs called “This Road is Long”. Here, Israel more than makes good on the promise shown on earlier tracks like “Homecoming” (from the band’s 2008 release, Midnight Matinée), delivering what is perhaps her finest vocal performance yet. Coupled with dark lyrics ("You gave good guys a bad name...") and lush orchestration, "This Road is Long" suggests Skeeter Davis fronting The Moody Blues-from-under-someone-else's-bed.

But, unlike Scarlett Johansson and Josh Hartnett in The Black Dahlia, Israel isn’t merely playing dress-up. “Don’t look so sad / You don’t know / All that you have,” she pleads with the subject of “Little Girl” as Masucci’s guitar soars like wisdom of the ages.

To be sure, what distinguishes The Lost Patrol from much of the “shoegaze” genre is a brand of existential maturity that transcends kretek-infused apathy. As Israel notes on “Lost at Sea”, “When the strongest love / Wasn’t built to last / You know the brightest stars / Burn twice as fast.” Or, on “Not the Only One”, “You are the remedy / That sickens me.” Even a line like “I need you / To be mine / Dead or alive” acknowledges that, for better or worse, we ultimately have nothing if not each other. And for The Lost Patrol, that means everything.

EDITOR'S CHOICE: The Lost Patrol

Fresh off their first-ever West Coast tour (including the legendary Whisky a Go Go), New York's Lost Patrol - whose sound includes ethereal female vocals backed by soaring, reverb-drenched surf guitar and Western 12-string rhythm - offer a cinematic listening experience that is at once uniquely their own while paying homage to everything from Morricone, Dick Dale and The Shadows to David Lynch, Joy Division and film noir. Don't miss them live on Friday, July 24, at Cyclops in Baltimore and Saturday, July 25, at the New Deal Cafe in Greenbelt...


July 18, 2009 @ 8:00P
Cafe Coco
210 Louise Ave.
Nashville, TN

July 22, 2009 @ 8:00P
The Camel
1621 West Broad St.
Richmond, VA

July 24, 2009 @ 8:00P
Cyclops
30 West North Ave.
Baltimore, MD

July 25, 2009 @ 8:00P
New Deal Cafe
113 Centerway
Greenbelt, MD

July 26, 2009 @ 8:00P
Galaxy Hut
2711 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA

August 15, 2009 @ 8:00P
Half Penny Pub
321 W. Fayette St.
Syracuse, NY

August 22, 2009 @ 8:00P
The Record Collector (Living Room Series)
358 Farnsworth Ave.
Bordentown, NJ

Try them on for size:

"On the Run"

"Homecoming"

"Orbit"

"Colours Turn Grey"

Gifford Publishes Final Installment of "Sailor & Lula" Saga

Barry Gifford has published The Imagination of the Heart (Seven Stories Press), the final chapter in his ongoing saga of Sailor Ripley & Lula Pace Fortune.

I find Gifford's writing to be extraordinarily cinematic, telling many stories through short, punchy, dialogue-laden chapters (and in the process offering heavy nods to classic pulp novels, film noir and the dark underbelly of American culture); not surprisingly, a few of his works have been translated to screen, most notably the 1990 David Lynch film Wild at Heart, based on the Gifford novel of the same name and starring Nicolas Cage (before he started doing silly shit like stealing cars and setting his skull on fire) and Laura Dern as Sailor and Lula, respectively...

New LOST PATROL Shirts Now Available

I first discovered The Lost Patrol (TLP) in summer 2007, while undergoing treatment for cancer; somehow, for me, their music provided the perfect soundtrack for chemotherapy (which I mean in the best possible way). It was thus with great excitement that I met the fall 2008 release of their seventh studio album, MIDNIGHT MATINEE, which, when The Mobtown Shank's Benn Ray invited me to compile a year-end favorites list, easily made my Top Five:

Were David Lynch to direct a spaghetti western featuring a climactic showdown between Carl Sagan and Carlos Castaneda, The Lost Patrol might provide the perfect soundtrack. Hailing from the greater New York City area, the band’s unique sound reflects a seemingly bottomless well of influences ranging from Morricone to Dick Dale to Joy Division. Guitarist Stephen Masucci’s reverb-drenched Mosrite along with the boundless desert skies of Michael Williams’ 12-string guitar provide a most complimentary backdrop for the otherwordly vocals of Mollie Israel (who replaces the band’s longtime lead singer, Danielle Kimak Stauss). While Israel’s voice occasionally belies her youth, her impressively solid debut nonetheless suggests the promise of even better things to come. Choice tracks: “On the Run”; “Homecoming”; “Colors Turn Grey”; “Jukebox on the Moon”.

Now, TLP have introduced a brand-new band t-shirt, available through their website. Also, look for them July 25, 2009, when they play the New Deal Cafe in Greenbelt, Maryland.