Seven years and five albums after their well-received debut, Lycia continue to impress. Their signature sound, a wall of effects-laden guitars and glacial atmospheres augmented by Mike Van Portfleet's quietly intense vocals, has been tempered on Estrella by the departure of collaborator David Galas and by the more prominent role given to female vocalist Tara Van Flower, who first bowed on 1995's brilliant The Burning Circle and Then Dust. Van Flower brings to Lycia's distant, cool compositions a measure of warmth and, on Estrella, a greater emphasis on song structure. Still, the disc doesn't mark any sort of sea change. In fact, Van Portfleet's trademark morose, forboding soundscapes shine as beautifully here as they always have. Call it "new age with teeth," "ambient Goth"--whatever it is, it's truly music to dream by. --Steve Landau
