Cloud Boat - Model Of You
Model Of You
Cloud Boat
Tiger Rating: 7.5 / 10
Electronic / Lo-Fi
Navigating their way through a subtle, hazy, oftentimes alien world, UK duo Tom Clarke and Sam Ricketts, aka Cloud Boat, come to terms with longing, doubt and grief on 'Model Of You'. Actually it's pretty hard to determine exactly what Tom is singing about and it would be foolhardy to try. Cloud Boat have constructed an entirely different world here. Certain things - like layered harmonies, sharp programmed drumbeats and an occasional savage bassline - hint to a parallel existence. One where bands like The Smiths, The Cure and New Order existed and held sway.
"There is nothing new under the sun" lamented a scribe and wise man once. A sentiment that would probably be very at home on this record. True genius often lies in taking inspiration and incorporating it with something from your own experiences. Get a producer to help you craft your vision (in this case Sigur Ros' Andy Savour) and what you get is something new, fresh, balanced between hard and soft, cold and warm and entirely original. As a first experience of this band, I was transported, elevated and thrust into their landscape, with very little reference as to where I was or where we were going. Clarke and Ricketts are gracious hosts though, and the world they made on this album is never harsh or cruel. Often confusing, intriguing and irresistible though.
Sometimes other people say it better than you ever could.
"It's cinematic stuff, but not in the usual rock-anthem way," writes Tom Moon for NPR music. "even when Cloud Boat goes big, there's refreshing post-rock doubt bubbling beneath the fervor." He concludes "Rather than make absolute pronouncements with flag-waving conviction, Cloud Boat dwells deep inside some otherworldly, mysterious, metaphysical murk, an aura that's inviting and impenetrable at the same time."
On "Told You" - a beautiful, desire ridden track, unusual in its 1.37 length - Tom croons "Tell me I made you proud, my love". It may be one of the few distinguishable lyrics on an album that is more mood and atmosphere, but it's a lyric to which I could wholeheartedly reply 'Yes. You really did'.
Listen if you are sick of the pop, rock and indie by numbers infesting modern airwaves.
I'm just gonna go ahead and carry on obsessing over this album.
WVS
"There is nothing new under the sun" lamented a scribe and wise man once. A sentiment that would probably be very at home on this record. True genius often lies in taking inspiration and incorporating it with something from your own experiences. Get a producer to help you craft your vision (in this case Sigur Ros' Andy Savour) and what you get is something new, fresh, balanced between hard and soft, cold and warm and entirely original. As a first experience of this band, I was transported, elevated and thrust into their landscape, with very little reference as to where I was or where we were going. Clarke and Ricketts are gracious hosts though, and the world they made on this album is never harsh or cruel. Often confusing, intriguing and irresistible though.
Sometimes other people say it better than you ever could.
"It's cinematic stuff, but not in the usual rock-anthem way," writes Tom Moon for NPR music. "even when Cloud Boat goes big, there's refreshing post-rock doubt bubbling beneath the fervor." He concludes "Rather than make absolute pronouncements with flag-waving conviction, Cloud Boat dwells deep inside some otherworldly, mysterious, metaphysical murk, an aura that's inviting and impenetrable at the same time."
On "Told You" - a beautiful, desire ridden track, unusual in its 1.37 length - Tom croons "Tell me I made you proud, my love". It may be one of the few distinguishable lyrics on an album that is more mood and atmosphere, but it's a lyric to which I could wholeheartedly reply 'Yes. You really did'.
Listen if you are sick of the pop, rock and indie by numbers infesting modern airwaves.
I'm just gonna go ahead and carry on obsessing over this album.
WVS
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