Lanterns on the Lake: ‘The industry seems far removed from why we picked up our instruments ’

Many bands are obsessed with the pursuit of celebrity, but orchestral dream-pop quartet Lanterns on the Lake are quietly preoccupied with a quest for meaning. The Newcastle band are on the Bella Union roster of artists. This prolific incubator label, formed by former Cocteau Twins members Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie in 1997, has a terrific track record in producing alternative stars such as Midlake, Fleet Foxes, John Grant and Father John Misty.

On their third album, Beings, singer Hazel Wilde believes they have further refined their vision, while also attaining a new-found sense of confidence. "We never actually envisaged getting to our third album," she says. "Your first album is like a Greatest Hits of the songs you've been doing for a couple of years. The second album feels like you've got something to prove after your debut. This time, we felt we had nothing to prove to ourselves or anyone else.

“In the past I often had a considerable bit of self-restraint when it came to writing lyrics. We know what kind of band we are and fully accept that some people will like us and some people won’t, and that’s all right. The majority of people are very creative, but the only thing that stops them is inhibition. I think once you move past that point, you can really push yourself.”

Wilde's lyrics on Beings are a plea for more meaningfulness in a confused world. "In a world of plastic souls where money rules, give me meaning," she sings on the title track. "Say the scars on my back are a constellation map, I need meaning." On I'll Stall Them, she sings about "walking in a world of plastic souls", and offers the pertinent reflection "Don't want to live in a cartoon war zone".

Journalist Maureen Dowd wrote an impassioned and much-quoted article on the subject in the New York Times in 2013. "Everybody is continuously connected to everybody else on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram, on Reddit, emailing, texting, faster and faster, with the flood of information jeopardising meaning," she wrote. "Everybody's talking at once in a hypnotic, hyper din: the cocktail party from hell."

Wilde believes that “social media has its definite advantages. I get most of my news from social media. It is a great way to share music and ideas. We’re trying to cut through the shallowness in an increasingly shallow society. The music industry often seems very far removed from why we picked up our instruments and formed a band when we were teenagers. This was an opportunity to talk about the things that matter and find some meaning.”

Earning a living

Even though Lanterns on the Lake are widely feted, they find it increasingly difficult to earn a living. “Some of our songs have got over three million listens, which is a lot more than some big bands, but we’ve seen no money from it,” Wilde says. “We don’t see it until people come along to gigs. We actually took our songs down off Spotify, but so many people got in touch to tell us it was how they discovered us and bought tickets to a show or a T-shirt on the back of hearing us there, so we put them back up again. It is a great way for bands to get better known, but essentially you’re using it as a marketing tool.

“It is frustrating when it doesn’t show in album sales, but that’s just the modern way. When we finished the album, I remember thinking: most people won’t buy a song off iTunes, but they’ll stream it a hundred times. You spend a lot of time and money recording and making those songs, but people won’t pay 99p for it, which is less than half of a beer.”

Coffee bean counters

Noel Gallagher said in 2015: "It infuriates me that people are more willing to sit in a coffee shop and spend a tenner on two coffees, talking about the weather with their friends, and that coffee will last 45 minutes, yet they will physically get angry at you for asking them to buy an album for a tenner that will last a lifetime and might tell you about yourself and might even change your life."

“It could also quite literally save your life,” Wilde says. “So much time, money, energy, effort and love goes into reaching the point of writing that music, but people will spend money on a sandwich rather than a record, which is fair enough, because obviously people have to eat. It has made things harder to make ends meet, but if you love music you are simply compelled to create it.”

On the subject of Gallagher, Wilde was greatly inspired by Oasis in her early teens, which may come as a surprise. "You wouldn't guess this from listening to our music, but I remember, when I was 13, I bought my dad an Oasis CD for Father's Day," she says. "The B-side was D'Yer Wanna Be a Spaceman?, which is just Noel's voice with an acoustic guitar. I knew I wanted to do music, but I had absolutely no idea how to do it. This song made me realise all you needed is a few chords and a guitar, so that's what I did and carried on doing. You could tell that if Oasis weren't in that band, they'd be nothing. With Coldplay, you could tell they'd have pretty good jobs as teachers or whatever."

Frustrated by the lack of gigging opportunities in Newcastle, Lanterns on the Lake put on shows in boathouses and other underused spaces. “Newcastle has improved a lot since when we started,” says Wilde. “Initially, there were only one or two promoters, but no one was investing in putting on good nights, and making money was the bottom line. A lot of acts were just Oasis-sounding pub-rock bands doing covers.”

In addition to her band's work in the Newcastle music scene, Wilde champions Jeremy Corbyn, whom she voted for in the Labour leadership election. "I voted for him because I've been a member of the Labour party for over six years," she says. "He genuinely seems to be the best person for the job. There is something very inspirational about him. The whole thing turned into a silly political fight, with headlines like 'Corbyn's war' when they should be talking about the issues in Syria. There are Tories who aren't behind Cameron, but you don't hear as much about them."

Lanterns on the Lake return to Ireland for dates in Dublin and Belfast at the end of this month. As for Wilde’s hopes, dreams and aspirations for her band and the world in 2016, she has one simple wish.

“As cheesy as it sounds, I just want peace and love in 2016,” she says. “I also want to be able to continue this great adventure.”

• Beings is out now on Bella Union. Lanterns on the Lake play Voodoo, Belfast, on January 29th, and the Workman's Club, Dublin, on January 30th