EP Review: cloud studies – cloud studies

Adam Cresswell has had a storied history at the heart of British indie music, first as part of the iconic Saloon and then fronting Rodney Cromwell.

The music of Saloon won over the heart of John Peel and music industry giants like Pitchfork, yet that critical praise sadly never translated into wider acceptance, as their brand of clever, melodic, and thoughtful indie pop was out of vogue with the superficial swagger that typified much of the Britpop era. Thankfully, there has been a reawakening of interest in the band’s music over the last few years.

You can hear the influence of Saloon on the EP, and also Rodney Cromwell, as Martin J Langthorne from the latter band is a member of cloud studies, alongside Michael Malley, to complete the trio. To bring the EP to fruition, they are joined by Natalie Guest on drums, Kirstin Isolde Lavender on vocals, and Adrian Taylor on lead and acoustic guitar.

That feels like a long way round to get to the music, but that background is an important part in appreciating what Cresswell and company achieve here, melding shoegaze into something that retains the original spirit of the genre, tweaking it into the present.

The EP opens with Cloud Cartography (Extended), and it’s where the presence of Saloon is most noticeably detected. Cresswell’s voice hums like high-tension wires of an arrangement that finds a place where indie, shoegaze, and post-punk merge. If this song were a cloud, it would be one dappled in grey, its darker shades offering relief against a wall of hushed, unhurried noise.

Those themes are present in the following track, Dreams About, pivoted towards an indie soundscape that has a plaintive jangle that is driven forward by a pop melody and vocals that are heartache in human form. It’s not a downbeat number, but if you’re feeling low and missing someone you love, then you can lose yourself for a few moments in the Lush/Alvvays/Slowdive vibes of Dream About. It’s worth noting that the song sits alongside other acts from the 90s whose star shone brighter, later.

Avenue and Hiding Place play tricks with the normal narrative of shoegaze; the former is like swimming through a haze of opium, the latter fractured and intense. The tracks also show how creative the band has been within the framework of shoegaze, as all four tracks fit within the genre, pushing and probing for new angles and areas of expression.

This is music for angels with dirty faces, occasionally sprayed of grit and otherwise escapist at times, though there is no doubting that the sound of cloud studies is grounded in reality. I’ve said before that ‘since forming, they have produced some of the best shoegaze the UK has to offer,’ and they prove that here, yet again.

If there’s any justice in the world, cloud studies will get its own branch on the rock family tree, not just because of the calibre and history of the musicians that marshalled the EP into existence, but mainly down to it being a damn fine assortment of songs.

cloud studies release their self-titled EP on the 19th of June, with digital editions available via Happy Robots and the vinyl version via The Weird Beard. Catch up with the band on Instagram or Facebook for EP and gig updates.

Header photo by Alison Ahern