Cloud Boat
Model of You
Reviewed by: Brian Roser
I think the name of this band is particularly apt, considering their unique sound. The electronic music has an ethereal, floating quality to it. Like you know, if you were in a boat on a cloud. They stick so close to this feeling that they start to seem like a one trick pony as the album wears on. Mind you, they do the trick quite well. Okay, that’s not completely true, they do bring out the drum machine for “Thoughts in Mine”, which has a nice dance beat in contrast to the more mellow music on the rest of the album. Their ethereal quality also allows them to not be too constrained by form or time. If the song needs to be a minute and a half, it’s a minute and a half. If it needs to be seven, then that’s how long it is.
Cloud Boat is just made up of two guys from London: Tom Clarke who does the singing and Sam Ricketts on guitar. They had played in metal bands before they got together in 2011 and went in a decidedly different direction. Model of You is their second album, but it comes out barely over a year after the previous one, Book of Hours. The duo has definitely not been idle. They’re also playing in Europe this summer. I was wondering why they had a random gig in the southern US, but no, it was a club called The Louisiana, which is actually located in Bristol.
On a personal note, I have a suggestion about song lyrics. I know this a long shot, considering nobody in congress can pass any kind of legislation, but I think this one could get some bipartisan support: I want a constitutional amendment forcing bands to put lyrics on their website. I mean really, how many times have you been listening to the radio only to sing something like this:
We didn’t start the fire…mhhm mmm… Born in the USA… something something… Walk like an Egyptian …mumble mumble… LEONARD BERNSTEIN!
I want to know what the words are. Not everybody is clear when they sing and sometimes the music drowns them out. I’m cool with that, but give me some place I can go to find out what the lyrics are. I was watching Cloud Boat’s video of “Carmine” on YouTube, which is creepy, but at least I could understand it, because there were people lip synching the words:
Like the corner where the air came in
And the bedroom where the walls were thin
I heard you calling in the early hours
Please someone would you let me in?
There’s some great poetry here and I’d really like to enjoy it, so bands, please give us a place to read them.
Rating: 
