Adam Cresswell (vocals, bass), Nat Guest (drums), Martin J Langthorne (guitars) and Adrian Taylor (guitars) make up UK dark shoegaze band Cloud Studies, who came into being back in 2024. They have released their second single “Cloud Cartography,” out on Happy Robot Records.
The world just comes alive between those guitars and keyboard, full of sonic joy. Having a proper drummer creates a wonderful symmetry when it comes to shoegaze bands. The sonorous vocals are hazy and dreamlike, set on an equal level as the instruments. All the while there are tiny squeals of feedback intermittently piercing the track.
“Cloud Cartography” was written after visiting Derryveagh Mountains in Ireland, and turned into a story about two humans trying to map clouds, which is kind of a metaphor for life. No matter how hard we try, there is no confirmed map or even permanence, for just like clouds, we are in perpetual motion, blown on the whim of the wind. My favourite shoegaze band of all time is Ride and this track would easily sit in the earlier phase of Gardner and Co. Cloud Studies’ “Cloud Cartography” is sonically pleasing between the guitar feedback and jangle, with vocals taking you on a vapour trail adventure.
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Cloud Studies | Happy Robots Records
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