Cloud Boat - Lions On The Beach / Bastion

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

3...according to our Clinton on Fri 16 Sep, 2011.

5 out of 5 for the sleeve. A wonderfully rustic photo of a path, a park bench and some autumnal trees. It looks uncannily like Scaur Bank in Wetherby. Well done to photographer John Doe. The music is what I may describe as haunt-step. In that it contains your archetypal two step rhythm married to some lovely drones and those type of high squeak pitched vocals Balam Acab ruined his album with (not that it needed much ruining). The flip has some vocals low in the mix before the sub bass kicks in. The vocals come back in properly over the beats and cut up voice samples setting it somewhere between James Blake and Darkstar. I'm still torn on how vocals can be added to this type of track or whether they should be at all when there's reasonably nice atmospheres at play.

It’s testament to the enduring power of the emergent and divergent bass scene that an artist such as Cloud Boat can release a two
sider of such differing proportions and for it to still sound so cohesive.
‘Lions On The Beach’, the lead single on this, Cloud Boat’s debut release is not your archetypal pop song but it’s still most definitely
a pop song. 3 minutes and 33 short sweet seconds of Sam Rickett’s Mogwai-esque guitar swathes and Tom Clark’s haunting vocals
pitched deliberately low in the mix, cut through with rolling, precise, drum programming and deadly bottom end.
On the flip, ‘Bastion’ reveals Cloud Boat’s more emotive side. They started off a recent DJ mix with a Bon Iver track, which is a good
jumping off point for Bastion. That is until the sub sneaks in. The love of enchanting melodies, belies a love of the bass, and it’s this
juxtaposition and the lilting tones of the high pitched vocals that encapsulate and unite the tracks on this complex and beautifully
programmed single.
With the knowledge that Cloud Boat have already been hand picked by both James Blake and Mount Kimbie to support them on their
respective tours you can get a feel for where this incredibly fresh sounding debut is anchored in. Think Steve Reich vs. Mala sprinkled
with a little Thom Yorke and some light fingered Burial along the way. Another beauty of a debut discovery by the force that is R&S.