New Music: Echo Upstairs – Clouds

2020 has been challenging for many of us, but especially for bands, putting a barrier between the spontaneous processes and work methods that lead to creativity. That appears not to have impacted the music of Echo Upstairs, as you’ll agree when you hear Clouds.  

The Brazilian outfit takes elements of shoegaze, dreampop, and psychedelia and blends them into just under four minutes of escapist rock beauty. Some classic bands can be heard in the mix – Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, and Curve in the way they weave reverb-laden guitars with metronomic percussion. On Clouds though the vocals and individual performances are given time to breathe and grow, to mesmerising effect.

Speaking about the song, guitarist Gilbert Spaceh says the process of creating Clouds was very collaborative: “We couldn’t be physically together but each one gave his soul to this single. This is not one person’s song but a band’s, one that trusts everyone and believes in what they do. Hardly someone comes with a song ready, and in the case of Clouds it wasn’t different.

I had created this riff in my previous band, and it was not accepted. With Echo Upstairs, we started to work in some materials during pandemic phase, each one in his/her home. I recorded the song structure using only a cell phone. Then I sent it to the band and immediately everyone felt like part of the music, as if we were in presential rehearsal. Ana was in charge of making the magic by composing the lyrics and the melody.”

Be sure to check the band out over on Instagram. You can listen to Clouds, which is out now via Midsummer Madness, and more from Echo Upstairs on Spotify, Deezer, and Apple Music.