Cloudkicker
Fade

Release Date: 2012 | Tracklist

When we last left Ben Sharp, we didn’t know where he was going to go next. What can an honest listener expect from a man who follows an album like Beacons with an album like Let Yourself Be Huge? Fortunately, Cloudkicker has become a well-oiled machine and released a majestic culmination of his previous works and much, much more. With ‘Fade’, Sharp has become geared towards musicality and substance rather than technicality and easy kicks. What the man displays here is not just a desire to progress from his previous works; it’s a willingness to embrace legitimacy as a musician and producer. As such, he’s met us near the brink of his career with what is a prime contender among the top albums of 2012.

It goes without saying that Sharp is content on paying tribute to some of his favorite artists (see: Smashing Pumpkins, Hum, Battles) while breaking into new, fresh, unexplored territory to the point where he’s not just another guy with a day job who makes music on the side. Given some of the song names, one could only speculate that Sharp is attempting to mirror the air of nostalgia of ‘You’d Prefer An Astronaut’. The record opens rather aptly with ‘From The Balcony’, which, from a musical and production standpoint is a fitting introduction to the rest of the record. ‘Seattle’ builds up with a grand crescendo, only to reel back several times into brooding atmospherics, deftly weaving between the loud and quiet before building up once again to a magnificent climax, vastly accentuated by the dynamic production. The almost danceable ‘LA After Rain’ is a sure highlight, with its bouncy and startlingly fresh bass line, which sounds as though it might have come from the early noughties New York scene a la The Strokes and Interpol. Unlike with Beacons and Let Yourself Be Huge, one simply cannot tell whether or not the drums are digitally programmed or recorded live; yet another feature of ‘Fade’ that is unmistakably organic. ‘Making Will Mad’ operates in much the same way as 'Seattle', though compellingly different. The record is closed by a LYBH-esque cross between ‘You and Yours’ and ‘Oh, God’, a fitting end to what is a sprawling, expansive opus; a cornerstone of the Cloudkicker discography and a promise of what is to come.

While ‘Fade’ sees Sharp coming to his own as a musician and songwriter, it’s also effectively his debut as a producer – while he may have written, recorded, mixed and mastered Cloudkicker’s previous works, it always seemed to be driven by necessity; simply the wood that held the canvas together, rather than the focal point of the painting. ‘Fade’ may well be the first album to take fully take advantage of the CD format. Though Steven Wilson’s ‘Grace For Drowning’ had dynamic range we'd rarely seen since the seventies, it also sounded like a seventies record (see: Miles Davis) – drums with only a small amount of punch, modest jazz instrumentation and sparse texturing at most. Indeed, Bjork’s ‘Biophilia’ was a similarly dynamic record, as opposed to the flat, loudness-war torn majority of today’s releases, but it lacked the power that is needed to show the new kids on the block that, instead of boosting your music through the roof in the mastering stage, ushering the listener turn up their volume. What this new era of audio production needed was a truly dynamic, heavy record, with the power and crunch of a metal record and the expansive textures of a post-rock album.

Though Sharp has succeeded here, it feels as though this is that one step short of opus territory. Cloudkicker has been building up to something, and ‘Fade’ feels like it’s one album short of the crux of his career. Though it is the product of a forward-moving motion, ‘Fade’ almost draws upon influences too extensively to the point where it hints toward the ‘throwback’ department. The Butch Vig-esque layering of the guitars and the contrasting between Big Muff distortion and clean tones are heavily reminiscent of Siamese Dream, to the point where it's damn obvious. With that said, what we’ve witnessed so far in Cloudkicker’s run is a grand crescendo, nearing its peak, on the brink of a climax. ‘Fade’ is excellent; it’s a body of work that surpasses Beacons and Let Yourself Be Huge, and one can only speculate as to what comes next.

Tweet

Recent reviews by this author
DZ Deathrays Bloodstreams	Deftones White Pony
Thrice Vheissu	Cloudkicker Let Yourself Be Huge
Birds Of Tokyo Birds Of Tokyo [EP]	Teeheehee Rainbow Stab Pizzaface

user ratings (394)

rate it Awful - 1 Very Poor - 1.5 Poor - 2 Average - 2.5 Good - 3 Great - 3.5 Excellent - 4 Superb - 4.5 Classic - 5

3.7 great

Rank: #0 for 2012