Lycia

darkwave

Lycia is an ethereal wave band from Tempe, Arizona, United States. Lycia's music is characterized by rich soundscapes and layers of echoed guitars, ethereal keyboards and doomy drum machine beats. The group was founded in May 1988 by Mike Van Portfleet, in the summer of that year Will Welch joined the project. In November, Welch was replaced by John Fair. In 1989, Wake was recorded, defining their droning ethereal guitar sound. John Fair left Lycia in 1990, and Will Welch returned. In the same year Lycia signed to Projekt Records and released Ionia in late 1991 after aborting the original first release, titled Byzantine. They became one of the cornerstones of the Projekt label for over a decade, and one of the most influential bands in the American darkwave scene in the 1990s. They forged a relentlessly dark and driving sound with a wall of shimmery guitars and keyboards, pounding drums, overlaid by Van Portfleet's unmistakable whispered vocals. 1992 saw the release of A Day in the Stark Corner and Lycia began its first live appearances. In 1993 David Galas became a permanent member, and their sound evolved with a more mature and polished depth. In 1994 Tara Vanflower, being a huge fan of the band, decided to meet Mike, and joined as backing vocalist contributing vocals on a couple of songs that were supposed to be for compilation appearances, but ended up on The Burning Circle and Then Dust (1995). Tara Vanflower and Mike VanPortfleet married two years later. The band's s...