Lycia

Lycia stand among the foundational names in darkwave and ethereal wave. Their signature approach layers atmospheric guitars with keyboards, hushed vocals, and the steady pulse of drum machines, yet the music has continually expanded across dark ambient passages and gothic pop structures. Though commercial recognition stayed limited, the band built a devoted underground audience that included admirers such as Trent Reznor and Peter Steele. Mike VanPortfleet launched the project in 1988 in Tempe, Arizona, initially working alone as singer, songwriter, and keyboardist. Over time the lineup evolved, bringing vocalist Tara Vanflower and multi-instrumentalist David Galas into central roles. Both contributed to the ambitious yet accessible 1995 double album The Burning Circle and Then Dust. Subsequent releases such as Cold in 1996 and Empty Space in 2003 sustained the group’s starkly atmospheric identity. After years of reduced activity and individual side projects, Lycia resumed in the early 2010s, issuing the full-length Quiet Moments in 2013 before returning to Projekt—the label that had issued their entire 1990s catalog—for the 2018 album In Flickers.

VanPortfleet began Lycia’s story with four-track guitar experiments in Tempe during 1988. Will Welch joined briefly before John Fair took his place before year’s end. After dozens of recordings, the six-song cassette Wake appeared on Orphanage Records in 1989. Synthesizers gradually entered the sound. Fair departed in 1990 to join Caterwaul, prompting Welch’s return; the band then signed with Projekt and began work on an album titled Byzantine. That project was ultimately abandoned, Welch exited, and VanPortfleet reshaped portions of the material into Ionia, released by Projekt in 1991. Live performances commenced in 1993 with assistance from David Galas, and Projekt issued A Day in the Stark Corner along with an expanded edition of Wake. Galas became a permanent member in 1994 while also pursuing the noisier Bleak project; a live album followed on Projekt the same year. VanPortfleet and Fair formed the instrumental side project Dust, though its recordings surfaced only as scattered compilation tracks.

After Bleak’s Vane appeared in early 1995, Lycia delivered the long-gestating The Burning Circle and Then Dust, which introduced Vanflower and mixed acoustic guitar pieces with electronic textures. The band toured extensively that year, including support dates for Type O Negative, then relocated to Ohio. Cold arrived in 1996, after which VanPortfleet and Vanflower married. Estrella followed in 1998, and Vanflower issued her experimental solo debut This Womb Like Liquid Honey in 1999. The acoustic EP The Time Has Come and Gone, originally recorded as Estraya, came out on the band’s own Lycium Music imprint in 2000. Projekt released Compilation Appearances, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 in 2001, the year the duo returned to Arizona. Tripping Back Into the Broken Days, another acoustic set in the Estraya vein, appeared as a Lycia album on Projekt in 2002. After leaving the label, the full-band recording Empty Space, begun in 1999, surfaced on Silber Records in late 2003.

The group entered an extended hiatus through the remainder of the 2000s while VanPortfleet, Vanflower, and Galas each pursued solo work. A digital EP titled Fifth Sun marked their return in 2010, followed by Quiet Moments—the first full-length in a decade—issued by Handmade Birds in 2013. A Line That Connects, reuniting the lineup with Galas for the first time since Empty Space, arrived in 2015. After a split 7" with Black Mare and several archival digital releases that included early demos and The Byzantine Sessions, Lycia—now once again featuring Fair—returned to Projekt for the 2018 full-length In Flickers.