Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The still waters of a lake a deceptively deep, they can pull you in with their obvious translucent charm and give you hours of pleasure as you take a sort of sanctuary in the coolness on offer. Not all lakes or lochs are like this, others contain worded dangers, the keep out sign easily seen from the water’s edge and to even dip your toe in the blackness that thrives in the foam could be a hazard the lyrically unstable could be keen on missing out on.
On Sunset Lake, the 2012 album by the superb Kontiki Suite, the musical evidence that hits the listener is one of serene compatibility, of laying out in the middle of the expanse of water and just letting the boat bob up and down as you realise that for all the despair, all the arguments and all the deceit that you face on a day to day basis, sometimes through your own actions, at others through the actions of those around you, that every now and then, life is meant to breathed, not forced.
On Sunset Lake is the feeling of time passing, the feeling of contented demise of the seconds between the hours and the victory over imposed personal failure. There are no time constraints apart from what we impose upon ourselves, in the middle of the lake, even Death has no answer for the gentle realisation that music can ease your daily passage, no matter if it has been bought on by avoiding outside forces.
The music of On Sunset Lake is easy going, there is no hardship involved, no incoming thunderstorm in which to hurl the boat around like a child being teased by their parents on an ever speeding roundabout; there are only songs which make you think of days in the sun, the gentle breeze of an Atlantic wind rippling over the hairs on your arms and helping the albatross keep a steady point above you. Tracks such as Hollywood, the excellent role reversal of In My Head, the passing of time in Moonlight and the outstanding beauty of Music Man all make On Sunset Lake an album of reflection, an album in which to whisper across the waves that time may pass but music and the Sun will always be there.
Ian D. Hall