Haunting, jagged, post-apocalyptic, black hearted twitchy & operatic Electronic Art-Rock
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
Statistics
We looked inside some of the posts by theholyroad-blog and here's what we found interesting.
Average Info
Notes Per Post
0
Likes Per Post
0
Reblog Per Post
0
Reply Per Post
0
Time Between Posts
2 months ago
Number of Posts By Type
Photo
16
Text
1
Last Seen Tumblr Blogs
Fun Fact
1,644 Tumblr posts in 1 second.
Text
Cloud Castle Lake - Malingerer Debut LP Hot Takes Review
Cloud Castle Lake are a Dublin based four piece consisting of Daniel McAuley (soaring vocals, kaoss pad, synths), Rory O'Connor (evolving walking bass and mono synths), Brendan William Jenkinson (guitars that sound like synths, synths that sound like broken guitars, majestic piano, textured sonic soundscapes) & Brendan Doherty (fractured frenetic jazz tinged drums). The band first caught my attention back in 2014 with their Radiohead 'in Rainbows' esque debut EP 'Dandelion.' Daniels impressive & huge falsetto range towered above a woven sonic texture that successfully mould my favourite elements of post rock, stabbing horns and brass with folk with smatterings of modern electronica. Very few bands have such ambition nor arrangement chops to pull off full brass arrangements on their very first release. Somehow CCL not only managed this but somehow used such sonic experimentation to serve the songs as opposed to simple decoration. With a heavy haunted vibe and pastoral feel, the record certainly delivered huge promise and managed to rise above the literal hundreds of Radiohead clones that have saturated the musical market in recent years. Most impressively, despite such critical accolade the EP received (Pitchfork, NME), rather than rush release an album to take advantage of such moments critical widespread praise, the band elected to carry on refining their sound. Presumably pulling songs back to their roots and moving away from the Post-rock template, such a bold mood has no doubt enriched the experience of listening to their debut LP Malingerer. Released at the tail end of April 2018, the debut LP arrives so fully formed, self assured and experimentally mature - one would swear they were in fact listening to the bands third LP. In an age that has herald the death of the 'album', and the 'single is King', Cloud Castle Lake buck the trend by creating a piece of work so dense it's true beauty is unleashed on several listens. This is not music one makes to make a quick profit, but is spiritual music for a socially bankrupt age. Cloud Castle Lake surely make music that sounds like every bone in their bodies depend on it, & not because some spreadsheet calculates high turnover. Not to say the band are not set to embrace future success of course. Music this bold surely must find an audience. I can only hope they continue on this trajectory and continue to make music that first satisfies them & they continue to ignore the current X Factor trend of 'music creation by committee'. Despite first being attracted to the band from the 'In rainbows' vibe, most surprisingly the album more closely captures the essence of Radiohead's recent release "A Moon Shaped Pool" which is surely lazy journalism on my part. However, when you consider Radiohead plough such emotional depth 8 or 9 albums into a 20+ year career, Cloud Castle Lake can only be commended on soughing such seeds on their debut Record alone. Comparisons to Talk Talk's spirit of Eden are well justified, in spirit and in sonics. Moving away from the quiet loud guitar centric approach of their debut EP, this LP is more masterful in it's execution. If any template can be detected at all, it is perhaps in it's endless shuddering unpredictability - with emotional rise and fall and tempo changes occurring every track. In many sense, such an approach brings to mind a minimalist approach to song arrangement, with a band talented enough to throw in the kitchen sink then pull back with beautiful restraint in a manner not so far from the work of Philip Glass.
Where the band can go next is anyone's guess. Which is perhaps the most exciting aspect of any bands debut. As Malingerer closes one is left pondering, where does a band this accomplished go next. Such surprises, many a long lasting career are built on. I for one hope Cloud Castle Lake retain such a bold approach to their career and continue to make such brave, vulnerable music in a godless age.
https://www.cloudcastlelakemusic.com/
youtube
0 notes
