Limelight
LANGAN, FROST & WANE
The US trio’s mystical psych-folk turned them into a band without them realising.
The three amigos: Langan, Frost & Wane bonded while writing.
THERE ARE VARIOUS geographical locations at which you might expect the influence of 1960s Donovan and Incredible String Band records to reside, but Pennsylvania wouldn’t be on the shortlist. It’s the incongruity of this three-man psychfolk tremor that makes it all the more intriguing.
The first album by Langan, Frost & Wane veers east to west and back in its roots and branches, from (Ravi) Shankar to the Strawbs, and no one is more surprised about its transcendental aura than the trio themselves. The group members had contrasting resumés when they met, both in person and remotely, initially for fun. Brian Langan was a self-described Beatles, Kinks and Hollies devotee and member of Swims and Needle Points. “Loud, power pop stuff,” as he puts it. “RJ [Gilligan, aka Frost] is also in a punk band who are fast and heavy, and Nam [Wayne, aka Wane], I think, was in a heavier band. So for the three of us to play this really slow music was interesting. Normally I sing in a higher register because I want to be Graham Nash, but I’ll never be. I’ve never collaborated this much on a project.”