Important note:
The lucid planet timeline doesn't just include lucid planet. There were two iterations of the band with published work after LP's first EP. These are Natas and Tratas - essentially the same band with a few letters switched around. The amount of lineup changes within these two projects alone makes me want to pull my hair out.
Before we get to them, we will cover Lucid Planet's very first release -
CHAPTER ONE - Hidden In Plain Sight EP (2013).
Personnel (presumed to be about the same as LP1, and their early live lineup):
Dan - vocals
Mick - guitar
Ricky - guitar, tablas?
Darcy - guitar, keys, percussion
Luke - bass, bg vocals
Mitch - drums?
You can listen to this EP here. Many thanks to Dayton for this upload, and for showing me this EP.
While the band's touring, recording, and interpersonal status escapes me for this time in their lives, I can make some observations about the music itself.
HIPS (great acronym) features an intro track (I believe it's a Terence Mckenna sample) with obligatory prog band throat singing, then a unique song, Remnant, then a song we'd later hear on LP1, Beneath Me, then another standalone song, Drowning. I'll get lyrics up for these at some point.
Interesting note - the band's performance of Beneath Me at the Esplanade Hotel in 2014 is closer to this version of the song than it is to the one found on LP1. This is mostly due to some minor vocal run changes (on "open up my eyes", especially, where instead of leading the end of the note upwards, Dan sings it downwards. This is present on the 2nd repetition of the line in the HIPS version of the song, but not on any of its repetitions on LP1.) Speaking of their gig at the Espy, we are now brought to:
CHAPTER TWO - miscellaneous live performances circa 2013-2015
Most things featured here come from YouTube videos uploaded by the band.
Here is the earliest Lucid Planet live footage I can find, from a sampler by the band, recorded in early 2013 at the Brunswick Hotel. It features partial performances of Beneath Me, Drowning (the only live video of this I've found), and a very early version of Olm 053. This video seems to feature their standard early lineup.
Here is a video of Apparatus live at the Esplanade Hotel, performed somewhere in January 2014. It features Dan on both vocals and guitar. I'm unsure as to why.
Here is a video of the last few minutes of Beneath Me, performed at the Brunswick Hotel, uploaded on May 11th 2014. The actual recording date is unknown. This does not seem to be the 2013 performance mentioned in the first link.
Here is a full set recorded at the Esplanade Hotel in May 2014. This is my favorite LP live performance, I believe. The setlist is Entrancement Intro (as I've dubbed it. It's a very, very early version of Entrancement from LP2), Listen, Kairos, Beneath me, and Requiem.
Here is an interesting cut of moments from this performance, dubbed "Lucid Planet: The Early Days", posted by roartv on April 16th, 2015. LP1 had not yet been released at this time. I have no idea why this exists but it lives on this page now.
Here is a performance recorded at the Evelyn Hotel in June 2014, with audio taken straight from the mixing station. It starts with an intro similar to HIPS' intro track, with a different spoken word sample, then Listen. The rest of the performance was not uploaded.
Here is an alternate recording of this same performance, with different audio, possibly directly from a camera or another mic. Note that Listen is dubbed "Song #1" in the title. It is unclear whether this means Listen originally included the intro sample or not. Not all performances of it from this time included the same sample, if any.
The following links were categorized as numbers 1-6 in a series of "The Early Days" recordings. This is likely unrelated to the roartv footage - these videos were uploaded by the band themselves.
1/6: Here is a little under a minute of Beneath Me, recorded at the launch of Lucid Planet 1 at Revolver Upstairs in October 2015.
2/6: Here is a little under a minute of Kairos, the intro. This was also recorded at the launch of LP1.
3/6: Here is a little over a minute of Listen, somewhere in the middle. This is the same footage as the May 2014 Espy performance. The description for this one specifies it was recorded at The Espy's Gershwin Room.
4/6: Here is a little under two minutes of Requiem from the album launch. "Here we go!"
5/6: Here is about a minute of the outro to Kairos from the album launch. Note the gritted "I search more!" that isn't there on the album, but it adds to the song.
6/6: Here is a minute and a half of the outro to Requiem. I believe Dan just really liked this performance. I love his little salute on that high note, it's very punctual. There is one minor lyric change here from "this world is my truth" to "this world is our truth".
The timing of these performances has gradually lead up to it, and it's a massive part in the timeline, so I believe it's time we cover one of the cornerstones of this story:
CHAPTER THREE - THE RELEASE OF LUCID PLANET
October 30th, 2015. A fateful spring day that would forever change the trajectory of progressive tribal psychedelic rock.
On this day, Lucid Planet's debut album was released.
Personnel:
Dan - vocals
Mick - guitar
Ricky - guitar, tablas?
Darcy - guitar, keys, percussion
Luke - bass, bg vocals
Mitch - drums?
You can buy this album directly from the band or from their bandcamp. You can also stream this album in many places, and find it on the band's official YouTube page.