LAKE is storied in collaboration, sonic adventure and an allegiance to exploring the limits of crafting pop songs. They have toured, recorded and allied with some of the most pioneering figures in contemporary independent music: R. Stevie Moore, Karl Blau, and Phil Elverum's Mt. Eerie, to name a few. The World Is Real is LAKE's fourth album for K and fifth overall, (excluding a bevvy of beautiful, more casually released underground cassettes and Eps), a collection of songs adorned with meticulous coloring and both analog and digital orchestration. The songwriting partnership of Eli Moore and Ashley Eriksson is the locus of LAKE's creative engine, but members and long time friends Andrew Dorsett, Markly Morrison, and Lindsay Schief are just as represented on The World Is Real. LAKE channels a deeply articulated feeling of discontent and loss on this record, but balances them in tandem with the pop music joys they have so deftly honed for many years. As a lake reveals only is smooth, glossy surface to the world, so does LAKE hold its own, stirring universe beneath its pop exterior.