The Burning Circle and Then Dust is Lycia’s fourth studio recording, originally released on double CD via Projekt Records in 1995. Save for a very small CD re-release in 2006 by Silber Records, the album has never been reissued since – and never before on Vinyl!
Mike VanPortfleet himself commented: “After several years of doing more synth oriented material I wanted a return to my guitar roots (in particular English post punk and 4AD). Lycia started as a guitar based band and I wanted to reaffirm that with disc one, which was originally going to be the release. I was also listening to a lot of shoegaze then, which inspired a return of making the guitars, as opposed to the synths, the focal point of the atmospherics.”. Many things have been said about the album along the last twentyeight years, and the band chose the following to describe the record.
From Projekt.com. - The Burning Circle And Then Dust was a groundbreaking point in Lycia’s career. It marked a shift from more atmospheric music towards song-oriented music with tracks like “Pray” & “Slip Away.” It marked the first collaborations between Mike VanPortfleet & Lycia members David Galas & Tara Vanflower. It marked the transformation of Lycia into a honed out live touring machine.
From Pandamonium Magazine via Projekt.com. - Moving back into more formal song structures, Burning Circle returns to true song-writing, and places equal emphasis on guitar as the electronics. However, the music is as intense and powerful as ever, conjuring up vast vistas of soundscapes which are captured in delicate webs of song and structure. Songs like “Pray” are positively dance friendly, while others find Lycia moving towards the fertile ground of darkpop. Breathtaking in scope and beauty, exultant in vision, exhilarating in sensory delight. Lycia have arrived. From Ned Raggett of AllMusic - a high point of American dark rock and the band's greatest and most ambitious work.
Released Mid December 2023 by Avantgarde Records.
Tracks Listing:
01. A Presence In the Woods
02. Wandering Soul
03. The Dust Settles (Part 1)
04. Sleepless
05. The Dust Settles (Part 2)
06. The Return of Nothing
07. The Dust Settles (Part 3)
08. Pray
09. The Better Things To Come
10. On The Horizon
11. Where Has All the Time Gone?
12. Silence and Distance
13. Anywhere But Home
14. In the Fire and Flames
15. Slip Away
16. The Last Day
17. August (Part 1)
18. Nine Hours Later
19. Nimble
20. August (Part 2)
21. The Facade Fades
22. Resigned
23. Surrender
24. These Memories Pass
25. The Burning Circle
26. The New Day
English