Review: Cloud Control, Bliss ReleaseThere are times I don\u2019t understand the record business, and the band Cloud Control gives me a way to discuss this confusion. Bliss Release, the debut album from the foursome from the Blue Mountains of Australia, is slated for its U.S. premiere on August 30. This is all fine and dandy until you realize the album has been out in Australia since May 2010, which is impossible to know unless you happen to have access to a wireless connection \u2014 and who has access to one of those anyway?<\/p>\n
Cloud Control won the top music award in its country for the album in March, and now it finally reaches the States? I know it\u2019s a long flight, but really? I bring this up because for as much promise as Bliss Release has, it\u2019s fondness for folk rock and psychedelic touches feels dated and done, as if Cloud Control brought appetizers to a dinner party but showed up during dessert.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s plenty of guitar plunking and wistful harmonies throughout Bliss Release, as lead singer Alister Wright shares the mic with Heidi Leffner to some success. But there\u2019s a blithe spirit running through track after track \u2014 songs end less out of purpose and more out of boredom. \u201cMeditation Song #2 (Why, Oh Why)\u201d sets this tone from the outset \u2014 Wright seems to run out of lyrics and sings \u201cwhy oh why\u201d on repeat while the background music falls into a psych-groove done much better by The Black Angels (\u201cGhost Story\u201d follows this refrain).<\/p>\n
\u201cDeath Cloud\u201d is the album\u2019s most intriguing song, showcasing a certain motivation and nice guitar flourishes to accompany a sleek shoegaze feel. \u201cThis Is What I Said\u201d is also a keeper, as its breezy and up-tempo harmonies are kept alert by a playful Smiths-like guitar \u2014 a great pop song all around.<\/p>\n
But too often the songs are familiar, sounding like Fleet Foxes (\u201cJust For Now\u201d) or Okkervil River (\u201cHollow Drums\u201d). Yes, maybe Cloud Control had these musical epiphanies first \u2014 problem is, I\u2019ve already heard the other two. If Bliss Release is as strong as it\u2019s purported to be, wouldn\u2019t we all have heard it by now?<\/p>\n
Cloud Control\u2019s effort isn\u2019t a flop, it\u2019s just a bit behind (through no fault of its own). Here\u2019s hoping the band\u2019s follow-up isn\u2019t held up in U.S. Customs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Review: Cloud Control, Bliss ReleaseThere are times I don\u2019t understand the record business, and the band Cloud Control gives me a way to discuss this confusion. Bliss Release, the debut album from the foursome from the Blue Mountains of Australia, is slated for its U.S. premiere on August 30. This is all fine and dandy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1302,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[367,366],"class_list":["post-1301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-bliss-release","tag-review-cloud-control"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1301"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1303,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1301\/revisions\/1303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}