Album Review: Cloud Control - Dream Cave

1 August 2013 | 10:41 am | Cam Findlay

Their obvious love of meshing sounds and easy coolness turns this into a grand adventure of sound and, at the best moments, light and shade.

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Have you seen the clip for Dojo Rising yet? No? Well go watch it right now. We'll wait... Okay, with that over, it's time to dig into Dream Cave, Cloud Control's second album follow-up to 2010's Bliss Release. More than almost any other instance, the young four-piece have taken the second-album blues and flipped it on its head, producing an album that absolutely reeks of confidence and self-assurance (in a good way).

Let's talk about that single, Dojo Rising, first. Oozing out of a groovy reversed harmony (Scream Rave), Dojo Rising is probably a peak example in just how casual and effortless it is. Alister Wright sloppily drawls “Give it to me” over dreamy layers of guitar (with a fine balance of high and low end), sticky drum rhythm and shooting synths. It's gracefully cool and not exactly what you'd expect. See: rest of album. While keeping the smooth indie groove that Cloud Control have harboured, there are some pretty big style tweaks between songs. Follower, Promises, jacks '50s doo-wop into a blues dive; Island Living flirts with '90s acid in front of a menacing bass line; Happy Birthday throws a bit of spaghetti (Western) at The Seekers and Beach House, and Ice Age Heatwave sounds exactly like that. Tombstone and the title song fade everything out into a hazy dream. Fitting, really.

So yes, a lot going on here. It could've been a mess: there's so much inspiration leaking in from decades of music, film and art in general, a dog's breakfast might've been an apt description. But Cloud Control don't care. Their obvious love of meshing sounds and easy coolness turns this into a grand adventure of sound and, at the best moments, light and shade.