Lichens
Robert Lowe plays bass and sings in 90 Day Men. 90 Day Men have released three albums and several EPs, rapidly developing from an angular, harsh post-punk band into their current expansive, near-progressive swirl of guitars, keyboards and vocals. He has also collaborated on tour with Castanets.
Lichens is Lowe's personal vehicle, created for performance and recording solo and with collaborators. Lichens has performed in Chicago, beginning at the Arthur magazine sponsored Million Tongues Festival in summer 2004 and New York solo and in duos. Lichens live is a transfixing experience, looping wordless vocals into curtains of drone. Lowe adds acoustic and electric guitars, percussion and other effects to create alternately thick and delicate works. Lowe has recorded and released a Lichens CD-R on his own, each hand assembled and released in a limited edition. Lichens contributed a track to the One Bright Sunny Day compilation CD, the debut releases from the Chicago-based IC Recordings label. Further touring is planned. In addition to the release of The Psychic Nature of Being (which is being released on vinyl by the estimable folk/psych/heavy imprint Holy Mountain) Chocolate Industries is releasing a limited edition 7 inch single by Lichens packaged inside a book of art Lowe curated with contributions by Jon Beasley, Justin Schaeffer, Devendra Banhart and others.
Recorded as a one-time improvisation without overdubbing, the three tracks on The Psychic Nature of Being, reveal and extend mesmeric Lichens live performances. Lowe mutates and extends his singing as he adds acoustic and electric guitars and percussion in layers that accent the vocal drones.
"Lichens... debuted at the Million Tongues festival last summer. Lowe's finger picked acoustic guitar sounded like he¹s spent time pondering Fahey's legacy, but his looped, wordless vocals were reminiscent of Meredith Monk." - Bill Meyer, Chicago Reader, March 18, 2005
The best part of Lichens are the vocals, Lowe has a pretty deep voice and the resulting loops are like a cross between Frippertronics and Demetrio Stratos's solo albums. - Waste, March 25, 2005
