Album: Lucidvox - That's What Remained

That's What Remained is the aural equivalent of being pulled into a maelstrom and then surrendering to this powerful natural force. Initially, it does not seem safe. But it soon becomes apparent that submission isn’t a problem. It will be fine. Emerging from this experience is accompanied by a shakiness. But that’s OK too.

It’s not necessary to know anything about Lucidvox to be knocked for six by That's What Remained, their second album. Over its eight tracks and 33 minutes it effortlessly accommodates the hard edge of shoegazing – the sensibility sustaining My Bloody Valentine’s “You Made me Realise” – riff-driven metal, intimations of early Amon Düül II, Eastern European folk, liturgical chant, exotic and unfamiliar elements, and a penchant for making noise for the sake of it. Instead of a dissonant or fragmented cacophony the result is a heady, matchless form of trance rock with, despite English-language song titles, Russian lyrics.

Lucidvox used to be based in Moscow. After the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine the four-piece – Alina Evseeva, Galla Gintovt, Anna Moskvitina, Nadya Samodurova – splintered. Scattered in self-exile across Europe and the Middle East, the band seemed irretrievable. Yet they came together in summer 2023 to complete That's What Remained, the songs on which had been written and rehearsed after the October 2020 release of their debut album We Are.

There are no specific credits but some of the recording and all of the mixing of That's What Remained seem to have been undertaken in Moscow. The guest musicians who contribute are all Russian but, again, information on how the album was completed is – presumably intentionally – not given.

Lucidvox define themselves as a “psychedelic girlsband.” This wonderful manifestation of so blunt a description instantly captivates. As intense as it is beautiful, the powerful That's What Remained is a testament to how music brings people together in distressing circumstances.

• More New Music reviews on theartsdesk
• Kieron Tyler’s website

@MrKieronTyler