Dreamy indie-electro
Francesco Galano aka When The Clouds, brings together his influences into one well crafted package: ambient electro, epic post-rock (Explosions In The Sky) and contemporary composers (Nyman/Glass) sit comfortably side by side. When The Clouds debut EP drifts gently into your subconscious and then keeps you captive.
‘The Dawn And The Embrace’ is very beautiful; Postal Service-esque at times or perhaps like Sigur Ros but played on synths (with a hint of guitar), it is hard to remember a time when something so ambient was so emotional and uplifting. ‘Rise On’ brings in more instruments; odd flashes of sound play under guitar and bass and it feels a little like a Maximilian Hecker track, but without vocals, and with a bigger, more expansive quality. Acoustic guitar playing a slow melody melts into glockenspiel and quietly rhythmic noises on ‘The Place Where The Path Leads’, the track then builds slowly, layer on layer as more instruments are added and it swells in volume in true post-rock style. A sound like the repeated crackling-pop at the end of a vinyl record greets you on the final track, ‘The House Of Sleep’, it really is dreamy, the little melody sounds like a music box twirling in the background and it is so gentle and twinkly that it’s almost on the edge of your hearing, it won’t send you to sleep though.
'The Longed-For Season’ is very dream-like, very warm and sometimes it’s shockingly emotive; the sweet little tune on ‘Flooding River’ alongside open echoes of picked guitar and rushes of synth is almost overwhelming at times. Using electro loops and glitchy sounding beeps alongside instruments like rhodes piano, glockenspiel, strings, mellotron and guitars, Francesco has made a lovely and surprisingly touching record that you want to go back to.