Lunden Reign
American Stranger
Cleopatra Records
2015
Lunden Reign is a brand new band which was put together in 2013 by Nikki Lunden (vocals, bass, keyboards, composer) & Lora G Espinoza-Lunden (composer, guitarist, keyboards). After that, the duo teamed up with platinum-selling producer Luis Maldonado to record their debut album.
Lunden Reign’s music style can be described as modern, melodic pop-rock with alternative passages. It has nothing to do with progressive rock music in general. I do not know why some press references have that characterization. Probably they have never listened to the album and they have only read the press release. The album was recorded at three very important studios; at Capitol Records, Hollywood, CA, Abbey Road Studios, London, UK, and Stagg Street Studios, LA. It was mastered by Grammy winning Evren Goknar at Capitol Records, Hollywood. The production is crystal clear and modern.
Nikki & Lora are two quite talented ladies. Nikki has a wonderfully warm & rockin’ (a bit raspy at times) voice, while Lora rocks the hell out of her guitar. “American Stranger” is a fine debut album which sounds keenly US modern for the airwaves. That thing has been made “intensively”, in my opinion, to gain the pop-rock audience and it has been done due to all the fancy producers that have participated in it. It would have been a bit better to have given the ladies total freedom to record their music without having to follow a specific way in order to make it sound more pop or radio-friendly at places, if you know what I mean. Moreover, the album lacks that big hit which would give it some extra promotional boost. Surely Lunden Reign will gain more popularity over time but I think they need to be free from all those golden guidelines by the multi-selling and Grammy awarded producers, if they want to make it at long last and not become another falling star, which shined for a while and disappeared right away…
Lunden Reign’s music style can be described as modern, melodic pop-rock with alternative passages. It has nothing to do with progressive rock music in general. I do not know why some press references have that characterization. Probably they have never listened to the album and they have only read the press release. The album was recorded at three very important studios; at Capitol Records, Hollywood, CA, Abbey Road Studios, London, UK, and Stagg Street Studios, LA. It was mastered by Grammy winning Evren Goknar at Capitol Records, Hollywood. The production is crystal clear and modern.
Nikki & Lora are two quite talented ladies. Nikki has a wonderfully warm & rockin’ (a bit raspy at times) voice, while Lora rocks the hell out of her guitar. “American Stranger” is a fine debut album which sounds keenly US modern for the airwaves. That thing has been made “intensively”, in my opinion, to gain the pop-rock audience and it has been done due to all the fancy producers that have participated in it. It would have been a bit better to have given the ladies total freedom to record their music without having to follow a specific way in order to make it sound more pop or radio-friendly at places, if you know what I mean. Moreover, the album lacks that big hit which would give it some extra promotional boost. Surely Lunden Reign will gain more popularity over time but I think they need to be free from all those golden guidelines by the multi-selling and Grammy awarded producers, if they want to make it at long last and not become another falling star, which shined for a while and disappeared right away…