We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Crazy House

from The Calm Before by Lach

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £1 GBP  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes Grammy-Nominated artist Peter Nevin's artwork and features Vocals from Richard Barone (The Bongos), Chris Barron (The Spin Doctors) and Lydia Ooghe. With Mike Visceglia on Bass (Suzanne Vega Band) and Billy Ficca on drums (Television).

    "This record somehow feels like it was years in the making, full of experience, pain and joy. It sounds cliché to tell people to listen to their elders and learn from what they've done, but in a time where kids start bands and just ape someone's style, there is lots to be learned from Lach."- Herohill.com

    "His new LP is his finest release to date: it’s heartfelt, intelligent, good-humored, and expertly constructed folk played with the irreverent attitude that has become the hallmark of the Antifolk aesthetic."- Movement Magazine

    "I’m rather fascinated with this album: it’s so familiar and yet so hard to pin down. The Calm Before is a collection of Lach's latest post-punk stripped-down-raw-to-the-bone antifolk genius. He’s catchy, funny, and doesn’t only appeal to a niche audience like so many of the followers of antifolk seem to do."- smother.net

    "I kinda like the whole punk folk thing and much as say, Weller is considered the Modfather, this guy is the leading influence in this genre and pretty damn good to boot."- rocksellout.com

    "Anyone who wants to find out what antifolk was up to before a bunch of young wannabes (Beck, Regina Spektor, Jeffrey Lewis, Moldy Peaches, to name a few) melted it down and made it into something new, should study this record carefully. Everyone else: batten down the hatches, sit back, relax and enjoy the storm."- Exclaim Magazine

    "Every now and then something arrives in the Incendiary shed that just blows me sideways. Lach’s The Calm Before has just done that. If there’s a place in the world where somebody with this kind of talent plays for next to nothing on a weekly basis, I want to be a regular. As it is, I’ll just have to settle for having this little gem of an album in my house. Jesus this is good. There’s your nutshell review right there. Stick it on a poster, you can quote me if you like. I want move to New York."- Incendiary Magazine

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Calm Before via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.     ... more
    ships out within 3 days

      £10 GBP or more 

     

lyrics

Crazy House by Lach

After finishing a wartime meal
A hand-rolled cigarette
I give myself a feel
A reminder so I won't forget
The circus is coming but it's different this time
When it was here last year I went on every ride

House to car to street to bar
I can feel the heat rise
Like driving through small town on Christmas eve night
Circus is in town but I'm in tight control
I let the other clowns fight over it all

The house of mirrors where they steal your soul
and put it up on the wall
The house of horrors at least has guts
but the monsters there are stuffed
The big arena and the circus parade
where the ringmaster leads the charade

You can hear the cheers coming at you from the darkness
You can see a crowd out there but you can't see one face
I've been in, now I’m out, and I'm going to go to
crazy house

After filling out my application and waiting in a white, white room
they bring me congratulations, a smock, a mop, a broom
Circus is leaving
but it's different this time
I'm the king of crazy house and I'm leaving this town behind

credits

from The Calm Before, released December 17, 2013
Lach - Vocals, Guitars, Piano, Hammond B3, Glockenspiel

Billy Ficca - Drums (Except Tony Maimone on Positions of Power)

Mike Visceglia - Bass

MIke McGinnis - Reeds

Dan Donnelly - Mandolin

Munir Kahn - Tabla on Gone Gone Gone

Richard Barone, Chris Baron and Lydia Ooghe - Backing Vocals

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Lach image

Lach Edinburgh, UK

Lach, founder of the Antifolk movement and star of BBC Radio 4's The Lach Chronicles.

‘Beat-punk-unplugged joy!’-The Guardian UK

‘Splendid! Best of it's kind!’- Mojo

‘Incredibly bright, influential, funny, poetic.’-Suzanne Vega

‘Best punk guitarist since Johnny Ramone.’-Billy Ficca of Televis ... more

contact / help

Contact Lach

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this track or account

Lach recommends:

If you like Lach, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Saxophonist Isaiah Collier chats about his new LP and the influence of Pharoah Sanders.
listen now