{"id":2155,"date":"2017-08-17T23:33:48","date_gmt":"2017-08-17T23:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/?p=2155"},"modified":"2017-08-17T23:33:48","modified_gmt":"2017-08-17T23:33:48","slug":"review-cloakroom-time-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/2017\/08\/17\/review-cloakroom-time-well\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Cloakroom – Time Well"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cloakroom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cloakroom is a 3-piece shoegaze outfit from Indiana who are currently signed to Relapse Records, a label which has played host to quite a handful of bands similar to them, perhaps most notably Nothing. The past couple of years have been a particularly good time to be a shoegaze act, with stalwarts of the genre like Slowdive and Swervedriver emerging from retirement for new releases, on top of newer acts like the aforementioned Nothing and even the most recent Hundredth release. The genre seems to have gotten a new surge of popularity, and with Cloakroom\u2019s new album Time Well<\/em>, the group is definitely looking to establish themselves as new big players in the scene.<\/p>\n

While the Nothing comparisons are the most obvious to make (given that the two are labelmates and all), Cloakroom definitely display some influences from both Windhand and Torche as well. The album\u2019s first two tracks, \u201cGone But Not Entirely\u201d and \u201cBig World\u201d, present a good idea of what\u2019s to follow. The band\u2019s key creative tick is how songs tend to switch back and forth between shoegaze\u2019s usual dreamy shimmering waves of sound and some very gritty low-end overdriven guitar passages. The songwriting ability to transition between the two works pretty well, especially when paired with atonal chord structures that contrast the beautiful soundscapes in a really compelling matter. Such transitions really pack a punch whenever they come up, with a really good example of this being the track \u201cHymnal\u201d, where the clean chords echo out in a sustained manner instead of being strummed repeatedly, and when the sludgy guitars enter and leave, they\u2019re additionally marked by these small pockets of guitar feedback.<\/p>\n

\u201c52 Hz Whale\u201d is primarily written and performed in a pretty slow \u00be time signature where the overdriven guitars are streamlined to a more straightforward rhythm\/melodic structure. Sometimes, the meatier bits are somewhat more subdued in the mix, like on \u201cThe Sun Won\u2019t Let Go\u201d, a track primarily driven by acoustic guitars and the distorted guitars don\u2019t overwhelm the mix as much as elsewhere. The title track of the album is similarly acoustic, although with the low-end guitars being basically non-existent, as it focuses primarily on the effects-driven guitars, soaked in reverb and sustained\/howling across the entirety of the tune. Cloakroom create some pretty solid experiences with how they know when and where to add\/remove the heavier bits, and it carries a vibe vaguely reminiscent of bands like Windhand and even Torche, occasionally.<\/p>\n