Aptly named Dream Cave, the second release from Blue Mountains band, Cloud Control, is a relaxing sojourn, full of echoey space and melancholy edge. Right from the start with ‘Scream Rave’ the band invites you into their slightly distorted sound with scattered harmonies and a relaxing bassline.
The surf-rock feel of The Beach Boys winds its way throughout the album, but while the magic of Brian Wilson lingers, the band clearly aren’t limited to this sound, with tracks ranging across different genres and decades. ‘Dojo Rising’ has a real Youth Group feel to it and made me feel like I was watching The O.C. or something, in a good way, but then the band goes straight into ‘Promises’ which has a sparse rock feel reminiscent of The Kinks. ‘Moon Rabbit’ could be from The Clash, and ‘Island Living’ is a super-90s affair, sounding like it might be found on the Batman Forever soundtrack.
From this description it might seem like Cloud Control are just adapting other people’s work, but it just isn’t the case. While these themes are there and push you towards melancholy reminiscing, they are interwoven with the band’s own unique sound with plenty of space to just listen and enjoy. It seems unsurprising that Cloud Control wrote and recorded this album away from home in Kent, as that isolation really comes across.
I really enjoyed this album with ‘Moon Rabbit’, ‘Scar’ and ‘Tombstone’ real standouts for me. A great soundtrack for some chilled-out beers at the end of a long week, that’s for sure.
7/10
Reviewer: Louisa Bulley