Darkwave is Spreading: Lycia's "Cold" to Be Reissued on Vinyl

Darkwave is Spreading: Lycia’s “Cold” to Be Reissued on Vinyl

A pioneering force in the genre of darkwave and ambient music, Lycia have earned the appreciation of fans of bleak but ethereal songcraft – including famous fans like Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and Type O Negative’s Peter Steele. Now, the band are reissuing one of their most beloved albums, 1996’s Cold, on limited edition vinyl.

Lycia, formed in 1988, was the brainchild of Mike VanPortfleet, a singer/songwriter/guitarist/keyboardist with a penchant for building atmospheric sounds and textures into his music. In 1991, they signed to seminal darkwave label Projekt Records; four years later, the lineup having expanded to VanPortlfleet, bassist David Galas and vocalist Tara Vanflower, the band released The Burning Circle and Then Dust, a more acoustic-based affair featuring fan favorite “Pray.”

It’s Cold that might be their most enduring work, though; Vanflower’s haunting vocals and chilly electronic textures throughout make Cold a dark but engaging listening experience. And it’s a release that’s set the template for their future works, all the way to their forthcoming album Quiet Moments, to be released later this summer. In the meantime, though, Cold is getting a brand new 180-gram double-vinyl edition (its first), featuring gatefold artwork based on a CD reissue from 2007 and new mastering for vinyl by guitarist/producer James Plotkin of Khanate and OLD fame.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4gXkVwmA9w]

Limited to 600 copies (half on colored vinyl – specifically “transparent milky white vinyl with a brown haze”), the vinyl edition of Cold will be out on Handmade Birds Records on May 14. A pre-order link is forthcoming, but the track list is below.

Lycia, Cold (originally released as Projekt Records 87, 1996 – reissued Handmade Birds HB-DIS054, 2013)

LP 1

Frozen
Bare
Baltica
Colder

LP 2

Snowdrop
Drifting
December
Polaris
Late

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Mike Duquette

Mike Duquette (Founder) was fascinated with catalog music ever since he was a teenager. A 2009 graduate of Seton Hall University with a B.A. in journalism, Mike paired his profession with his passion through The Second Disc, one of the first sites to focus on all reissue labels great and small. His passion for reissues turned into a career, having written at and worked for all three major catalogue music labels and contributing to Allmusic, Billboard, Discogs, City Pages and Ultimate Classic Rock. He's penned liner notes for Verve, Chess, Mondo and Soul Music Records.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Mike lives in Astoria, Queens with his wife, a cat named Ravioli, twin daughters and a large yet tasteful collection of music.

1 thought on “Darkwave is Spreading: Lycia’s “Cold” to Be Reissued on Vinyl”

Dan
October 13, 2021 at 5:07 pm

Hi, I have collected ionia, A Line That Connects, and Casa Luna on vinyl. I would absolutely love to have Cold on vinyl as well. When will the RE vinyl if Cold be released? Any information will be deeply appreciated.

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