GENRE; Alternative Rock/ Art Rock/ Dark Wave/ Dream Pop
RELEASE DATE; 06 November, 2026
RATING; 3.9/5
Memory, isolation and the sheer weight of things left behind is the essence of The House Flies’ second album “Lions and Ore’. It’s seven tracks, all of which are underpinned by a constant reference to houses, fields, heat, sleep and the various places we’ve abandoned. It’s not a linear story in any sense, it’s more that these images keep cropping up in different guises and it’s the way they’re presented that creates the sense of a world. There’s a real sense of identity to the record in the way it moves from quite restrained sections to more heavily guitar driven ones.
“Goodnight Goodnight Lover Dear” opens the record with a very domestic, almost hymn-like quality, starting quite quietly and building out to a fuller guitar sound. “Lost Literature” is all about the night drive and fragments of memory, with a more immediate melodic hook. The momentum of that track is taken up and given a much heavier weight on “Derelict Crawl” where repetition is key (the refrain “We don’t belong” is repeated throughout). The first three tracks in succession establish a number of different emotional landscapes but are all very much in keeping with the overall atmosphere of the record.
The second half is all about different facets of tension and reflection. “Snakes and Toads” is devotional language meeting animal imagery. “Count Us Down” is all about the hypnotic centre of streetlights, the weather and repetition. “Shelter Me” brings in the images of heat, old wire and enclosed spaces, continuing the darker vein of the record. Each of these tracks is another facet of the album’s array of settings, each one contributing to the development of the themes without locking them into one particular interpretation.
Close with “The Glass, The Orchard’ and you’re in a much quieter world of memory and tenderness. It then expands into a rather dramatic finale which is all about the desire to be seen. That’s the arc of the album really and it’s a very effective conclusion to the collection which brings together all the different facets that have been explored. “Lions and Ore” is a very successful record in that respect in terms of creating a complete and satisfying listening experience through atmosphere, imagery and the ebb and flow between the restrained and the more intense.
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