Lacuna The Church

• 1 Lumbini Grove 06:52
• 2 Western 03:02
• 3 Ferrari 03:35
• 4 Sky River 04:04
• 5 Winter 03:51
• 6 Have You Been Here Before? 04:56
• 7 The Lemurian 05:48
• 8 Everytime 05:03
• 9 Sky and Hill 03:09
• 10 Paladin 03:20
• 11 Martian Skyline 05:15
• 12 I Want It 04:33
• 13 The Place of Eternal Spring 05:01
• 14 Rapture 04:08
• 15 Forever 05:29
• 16 Lumbini Theme (Slight Return) 02:01
• 17 Sacred Echoes 09:31
• Total Runtime 01:19:38

Info for Lacuna

Set amongst chiming guitars and a propulsive beat, the new single “WESTERN” from Australian psychedelic dream pop legends THE CHURCH herald the next chapter in the storied band’s 46-year history. Taken from the upcoming album LACUNA “Western” follows the previous single “Sacred Echoes Part II” which was released last Winter.

“Well, we were in Texas, weren't we?” laughs bassist/vocalist/founder Steve Kilbey about the regionally named single, which was recorded in Austin, TX. “As a kid, all there was on TV were Westerns, so I let it all soak in and this is what came out. Some nice six-string bass counter riffs going, and the song is basically a shaggy dog story that just jumps all over the place… breezy and uncomplicated.”

With some granular Southwestern atmospherics well-placed throughout the three-minute single, "Western" is an airy and light song that Illinois Entertainer describes as “atmospheric post-punk flourishes that ride atop a sonic bed that suggest Native American tonality and rhythm,” while well-respected tome Trouser Press characterizes it as possessing “the same depth as their classics.”

Riding high atop the crest of their rejuvenation wave, The Church have recently been receiving some of the best press they’ve received since their start. SPIN named their album The Hypnogogue as one of “2023’s Best Albums” while NPR hailed “Few bands enter their fifth decade of making music with all the fierce creative energy of their early years. Few bands are like The Church.”

Following a massively successful world tour celebrating their singles, The Church are prepping their return with the release of their 28th album Lacuna. Coupled with Kilbey’s poetic and sometimes enigmatic lyrics, a multi-guitar textural atmosphere, and the hypnotic rhythm section, Lacuna unfolds like a secret hidden in a slowly unraveling origami, reveling in its complexity but revealing its hidden message in due time. These architects of neo-psychedelic dream-gaze embeds his metaphysical and esoteric lyricism deep within the shimmering, lush twin-guitar textures, often achieving absolute sonic transcendence.

The 17-track opus opens with the ebb and flow intro of “Lumbini Grove” before launching at the halfway point into a soaring anthem that signals the arrival of Kilbey’s tight-fisted grasp of melody. The celestial guitar twinkle of “Winter” that hearkens to their earlier works. “This is the most old-fashioned, old school, Church-styled song for a while,” Kilbey reckons. “It could have easily been on Blurred Crusade. A bit of continuity right back to the olden days!” The piano-led “Forever” strips back the guitar layers to The Church’s classic sound. Beginning with some random chords that guitarist Ashley Naylor was playing on a grand piano, Kilbey joined him and the song took shape. “The lyrics fell out of the sky and into my head,” Kilbey says. “We did a bit of work on the middle eight and the outro which has a bit of a Neil Young feeling, I guess. It was a very different style of vocal performance which I hadn’t really done before. It’s one of my favorite tracks on the album too.”

Their final track, “Sacred Echoes” (the single version was released in Winter 2025 in shortened form as “Sacred Echoes Part II”), is an epic closer. Its dramatic opening returns the band to grand form. “Bleak and yet beautiful ‘Sacred Echoes’ is unlike any previous Church song ever with its almost orchestral climaxes and its sombre mood,” Kilbey concludes. “The lyrics and voice are the weariness at the point where hope and hopelessness merge. The music is by turns delicate and sparse turning into a churning monstrous racket. Intense, forlorn and exultant!”

Starting out in 1980, The Church have continued to expand their highly cinematic and atmospheric blend of indie rock, shimmering post-punk, icy dreampop and psychedelic post-rock without retreading their steps. Their expansive music career yielded a string of hit songs including “Under the Milky Way,” “Reptile,” “The Unguarded Moment” and “Almost With You” amongst others and their equally stellar live shows have been deemed “spectacular” by MAGNET Magazine, citing their “dreamy psychedelia that will daub your evening with shades of paisley.”

The renowned six-piece line-up is made up of bassist, vocalist and founder Steve Kilbey; long-time collaborator, drummer and producer Tim Powles, who’s remained a staple across 18 albums since 1994; guitarist Ian Haug, who has been strumming with the band since 2013 and formerly of Australian rock icons Powderfinger; multi-instrumentalist Jeffrey Cain from American alt-rock band Remy Zero who first joined the band as a touring musician before joining the band full time in 2020; Ashley Naylor, one of Australia’s finest guitarists and a long-time member of Paul Kelly’s touring band; and newest member Nicholas Meredith on drums. Soon entering their fifth decade as a band, The Church remain a treasured creative force.

The Church
Steve Kilbey, bass, vocals
Tim Powles, drums, production
Ian Haug, guitar
Jeffrey Cain, multi-instrumentalist
Ashley Naylor, guitar and multi-instrumentalist
Nicholas Meredith, drums

The Church
finds itself cherished as a bona fide legend in the ARIA Hall of Fame while remaining a virtual enigma to the world that knows its name. But maybe that’s no more remarkable than the mystery that continues to unfold within its own ranks. the church’s accidental signature tune, Under The Milky Way, is like a lighthouse on the brink of a continent forever to be discovered: 25 albums over 35 years and countless diversions that have almost destroyed them a dozen times, yet always reaffirm a mutual commitment to an uncompromising and unparalleled act of creation. At this stage of the journey, FURTHER/DEEPER seems both unimaginable and the only option on their endless quest from chaos to resolution. It’s an album of breathtaking new vistas and intense emotions, of sinister black caskets and gorgeous caverns of light, a work born of immense struggle and effortless expression.

“The magic started on day one,” says singer and bass player Steve Kilbey. “Someone strummed a chord or struck a drum or plucked a note and we were off. We wrote and recorded like demons and it was inspiring to feel every member using all his resources in the service of this record.” Twenty-six songs were born over eight days of exploration in Sydney in late 2013. Guitarist Peter Koppes, recalibrating his personal canvas in the absence of his long-time foil Marty Willson-Piper, drew palpable inspiration from the quartet’s remixed chemistry. “This new incarnation of the band with Ian Haug has brought a joyous energy to the music we’ve written together,” he says. “The rhythm swings more than usual yet the moods still range from melancholy pop to our modern version of heavy psychedelic rock, as in Laurel Canyon, to the epic gothic-progressive dance track, Globe Spinning.” From the ominous allure of the lead track, Vanishing Man, to the beguiling tippy toes of Pride Before A Fall; the chiming keys of Love Philtre to the sheer hammer horror Toy Head; the exhilarating breeze of Old Coast Road and the ultimate, panoramic drama of the mini-screenplay that is Miami, FURTHER/DEEPER delivers on the promise of its title in a combined blossoming of melody, rhythm and audacity.

For Haug, transitioning from the multi-platinum ashes of Powderfinger to join “one of my favourite bands of all time” was an utterly surreal experience, audibly expressed in fantastic new dimensions of the church’s fabled “guitarchitecture”. “The first song we wrote was Miami, and from there we splintered off into several styles of surreal to intense psychedelia — and songs to make you drive fast,” he says. “It was a trip. And an incredible honour to be accepted so readily into a songwriting as well as guitar-playing role.” Drummer Tim Powles was again instrumental in the painstaking alchemy that boiled the explosion of ideas down to 12 potent pieces in the early months of 2014, a process that often saw members working simultaneously in separate studios across multiple instruments to produce a work of singular cohesion.

“After an eternal twenty years in the church I marvel more than ever at how we’ve become masters of our own freedom,” he says. “No strings attached, no view to winning a prize. How lucky are we? Or have we earned it? We’ve got better at it too. Or maybe it’s got the better of us. It seems to devour us. Like magic.”

This album contains no booklet.