By:
Ernesto Aguilar
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 18/08/2017
The
songwriting and arrangements are as distinctive and original as they come,
especially for the subgenres Cloakroom claims. You
will get treated to plenty that fits a stoner/sludge aesthetic that you are
used to hearing. Yet, by the time you reach "The Sun Won't Let Us Go" midway through, chances are you
will embrace where the band is heading with all this. But
it is nevertheless magnificent.
"Time Well"
CD//DD//LP track listing
1.
Gone But Not Entirely
2.
Big World
3.
Concrete Gallery
4.
Seedless Star
5.
Sickle Moon Blues
6.
Hymnal
7.
The Sun Won't Let Us Go
8.
Time Well
9.
52Hz Whale
10.
The Passenger
The Review:
Some
of the best music defies description and can be defiant in a manner that can be
both sublime and utterly enraging. You think you can put a band in a convenient
mental category, as we are wont to do, until its members aptly demonstrate you
just cannot do so. This fluidity is loved by many music fans. It can also make
others completely panic.
Enter
Cloakroom. This outfit presents fleeting instances of doom
and stoner rock. However, it offers the strongest pop sensibility of any group
on which you would otherwise bestow those categories. On its sophomore release,
"Time Well," the Northwest Indiana-based
band creates an impressive though hard to describe recording.
"Further Out," Cloakroom's
debut, received accolades for its quality as a heavier side of indie rock
package. It was moody and sorrowful at moments, reflective and tense elsewhere.
Truly a promising first outing by most standards, and loved by many critics and
fans. You almost have to think so many eyes generates more than a little
pressure on this young band to follow through on an equally rich offering.
Fortunately,
"Time Well" is an admirable
progression from what we heard in "Further
Out." "Gone But Not
Entirely," the new disc's first track, treats you to a sound you will
grow to love across all ten cuts – that kickoff indie swag that summons the Replacements among others making way for thick guitars and
a plodding bass. It is real ride at first, because you might expect this is all
going one way – and who can blame you, considering metal label Relapse put this out – until your ears get a delightful
sonic curveball. But it is nevertheless magnificent.
Other
tracks abide by this indie/heavy model, which is nevertheless a great
experience. Catch "Concrete Gallery"
and "Sickle Moon Blues"
among the best of such songs. The songwriting and arrangements are distinctive
and original as they come, especially for the subgenres Cloakroom
claims. You will get treated to plenty that fits a stoner/sludge aesthetic that
you are used to hearing. Yet, by the time you reach "The Sun Won't Let Us Go" midway through, chances are you
will embrace where the band is heading with all this. Those mental categories
we all seek will disappear for a bit in favor of such a superlative story arc.
Cloakroom succeeds as a one-of-a-kind
sort of group. You have to admire its members' courage at stepping out of
bounds, and for breaking the sophomore slump with a release you will not soon
forget.
"Time
Well" is available here
