There is something intensely touching about a music that has the audacity to act as both a personal confession as well as a universal experience and New Laconia manages to get that balance so right with their song Journey to the past. It is an experimental project by Ukrainians who create an impression that they have stumbled upon a memory that they never knew they had lost-emotionally meaningful and surprisingly cinematic.
The song draws you into its story-world right away with the help of an active vocal performance that alternates between quiet contemplation and exhilarating statement. The combination of the lead vocals and the backing responses form these moments that do not leave you and the ascending line of the vocals gives you actual shivers. It is a performance that you want to get closer to as the singer is telling secrets just to you.
What impresses me the most is how the song flows into various territories of emotions. The structure is not formulaic at all–those harmonic shifts and rhythmic changes take you on a journey with surprises on the way. The piano interludes provide these ideal breathing moments that contrast perfectly with the more up-tempo prog rock aspects, which creates an overall rich listening experience that is worth the attention.
Not all of that cinematic atmosphere is mere filmmaking flair: it helps with the storytelling, too. The sound has something very nostalgic about it that can be related to that universal feeling of looking back at your younger self with both tenderness and bewilderment. The idea of writing a song to your seventeen-year-old self is powerful because we all know what it is to commit to something without having a true insight into why.
New Laconia has produced something which cannot be classified. Journey to the Past is indie nostalgia, progressive rock adventure, and emotional archeology all in one. It is music to anyone who has ever had to take a step back in order to take two forward.
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