Lichen

Lichen are the band project of South London-based songwriter Michael Clark. Lichen’s style is languid on the surface, yet masterful and refined in their structures and arrangements. There is a heady marriage between this cultivated formula and the intensity of the themes, the subject matter, and the lyrical dispositions that Michael has crafted over the years. Taken as one, Lichen offer a meditation on the lines between the past, the present, and the eternal that persist within the landscape of the everyday. The resulting content is powerful and sincere, with a robust candour that is brought to new heights by the full ensemble. Michael’s music started appearing online as early as 2014. They were self-recorded, self-released tracks that soon began to capture the attention of his peers and contemporaries. The Line of Best Fit discovered his music and dubbed it ‘a veritable treasure trove of undiscovered sad bastard alternative’. After the release of his debut EP in January 2019, Michael has brought in an array of instrumentation and players, adding layers and textures to expand upon the brooding, haunting atmosphere of his previous tendencies, and which has culminated in the formation of this band.