Model of You
8 July 2014
Apollo
4 stars out of 5
Returning after just over a year with their second LP, London-based
moody electronica duo Cloud Boat give us Model
of You, which is a lot more expansive and fully realized than its
predecessor, Book of Hours.
Inevitably there will be comparisons to James Blake, which will become more and
more meaningless as the number of artists who ply their trade in this genre
multiplies.
“Portrait of Eyes” isn’t too far removed from some of
Radiohead’s electronic dabblings. The majority of the album, however, is
comprised of melancholy ballad-esque pieces, occupying the fog-covered
landscape abandoned by the retreating armies of sad ravers and people who knew
Burial’s real identity right from the beginning. Stand-out track “The Glow”
will find its way onto many a mixed CD that lonely, introspective first-year
university kids will make for the girls they like. (If I were that age still I
would totally do that. Except now I don’t own any sort of device that can
actually play CDs. Oh, this endless march of technology!) “Aurelia” picks
things up and achieves a slight bit of menace with its distorted guitar tones; “Thoughts
in Mine” sees the tempo increase even more, giving us the first danceable track
on the record, while still retaining the angst-ridden tenseness of the rest of
the LP. The guitar-based “All of My Years” is the most conventional thing here,
a slow waltz of melancholy worthy of slowcore pioneers Low (a good thing).
Model of You ends
with the longer, more powerful “Hallow,” which seems to be a signpost at the
crossroads for Cloud Boat: will they follow its more rock-oriented beat towards
the arenas of the world, or will they retain their melancholy and experimental
roots? Why not both? Regardless of future direction, in the present Cloud Boat
have given us a very listenable and engaging record in Model of You.
reviewed by Richard Krueger
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