Lost World Band - 2025 - In the Empty Town

(44:20; Lost World Band)

Here is the third in series of reissues/re-recordings from LWB, and although this was originally issued on cassette in 1996, much of it originated between 1993 and 1994. Most of the arrangements are as they were, but Andy decided to revisit both “As Darkness Falls” and “Galloping Past” for this album. The flute tracks have been transferred from the 1996 sessions, “Unbounded” was re-recorded in 2010 while everything else was recorded in 2025. This time around Vassili Soloviev (flute), Andy Didorenko (violin, guitar, bass, backing vocals, harmonica) and Alexander Akimov (keyboards, bongos) are again joined by singers Brian Paley and Phoebe Carter, drums are shared between four musicians (Ben Cooper, Veniamin Rozov, Jordan McQueen, Francesca Pratt) while Yuliya Basis provides piano on one song and Manuel Trabucco saxophone on another.

Of the three reissues, this is the most complicated to listen to, as it is quite complex and also somewhat disjointed, which probably reflects what was going on with the band at the time (in the summer of 1993, two of the band were accepted into the Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Akimov moved to Nizhny Novgorod, Didorenko changed residence three times, and Soloviev took on three jobs). It is harder to settle inside and is not nearly as commercial or accessible and takes more work, but again it is intriguing to hear just how different it is to the other albums which were released originally in the same year and have now been re-recorded at the same time.

I have enjoyed LWB’s music for more than 20 years, and this three albums show just what we were all missing out on back in the day given these were only ever available to close fans, and it is a real shame they have not been given the attention they deserve until now, but now there is no excuse for missing out. If one visits the band’s website there is information on the history on behind each of these, along with details of each song and how they originated which is fascinating. I recommend listening to these in sequence, started with ‘The Dawn’, then ‘Remission’ before coming to this one, but they are all enjoyable even though I didn’t feel this is quite as essential as the others. 

Kev Rowland, May 2026

Links:
https://www.lostworldband.com/