Lyra Caltabiano’s sultry, neon-lit compositions on her latest album are provocative and touching. Night Creatures is a rich musical journey full of meaningful twists and turns and intoxicating soundscapes.
Australian artist Lyra Caltabiano is based in Melbourne. A singer and songwriter, a pop artist, and an electrified trobairitz, Caltabiano’s Night Creatures is a deep and personal journey of self-discovery, love, and community based around her coming out story as a transgender woman. The music on the album is equal parts thunderous and soft. Varied too, the songs on Night Creatures are not only rich in words and purpose, they also cohesive showcase Caltabiano as a capable songwriter with a singular vision.
From the operatic starter ‘Starlight’, the groovy disco anthem ‘Midnights Kiss’, to ‘Afraid Of The Dark’ and its behemoth, sputtering bass, the intimidating and looming riffs on ‘Cage’ and the title song, all the way to melodic ballads such as ‘Body’, the uniformly dark and oppressive soundscapes on Night Creatures often give way to moments of precious light, infectious grooves, and heartfelt melodic cues.
Among the album’s most outstanding offerings are the starter ‘Starlight’. With the melodic vocal wails in the background, backing Caltabiano’s thoughtful and patient delivery, to the introduction of one of the album’s most defining features, massive, dark, oppressive synths, ‘Starlight’ is a grandiose and confident intro to an album of a very distinct nature. Caltabiano’s musical confidence becomes unquestionable as soon as the venomous riff of the next song starts. ‘Night Creatures’ is based on a synth bass riff that’s infinitely catchy. Laden with danger, the looming bass line and the surrounding synthetic atmospheres are carefully prepared to provide an environment that’s purposefully stressful, extremely engaging in the process. A gorgeously written tune that’s an immediate highlight of the album, of Caltabiano’s career, and perhaps of all electronic rock we’ve heard all year.
Caltabiano follows with 2 groovy disco-inspired tunes. ‘Midnights Kiss’ and ‘Afraid Of The Dark’ are two sultry, sensible, mid-tempo disco anthems that are rich with synth-heavy arrangements and deep groove pockets. With memorable synth lines that utilize some timeless sounds and instantly catchy arpeggios, the two songs are engaging and are quite wonderfully put together. ‘Cage’ is a punchy masterpiece of aggressive riffs and outstanding charisma. A piece that would feel perfectly at home on Muse’s Black Holes and Revelations, ‘Cage’ displays a totally different face to Caltabiano with its in-you-face placements of the vocals in the involved and lush mix. Another immediate standout.
The album’s second half is defined by long-winded, experimental, and more progressive song structures. With ‘Please Them’ clocking in at just under 7 minutes and ‘Reborn’ just over the same mark, Caltabiano’s songwriting takes an almost all-new form on the latter half of the album with both those songs featuring oppressive musical soundscapes with buzzing synth bass lines and drawn-out vocal melodies and mixes that lean on being dark and unforgiving. While ‘Please Them’ takes a more sinister approach with its twisting riffs, ‘Reborn’ is a sweeter, gentler, and more melodic, perhaps akin to something that would appear on M83’s Saturdays = Youth.
In conclusion, Lyra Caltabiano’s music and words are profoundly powerful on Night Creatures. A collection of darkly heartwarming tales that are personal and stirring, weaved into attractive musical environments.