Bliss Release

True to its title, Cloud Control’s debut ?Bliss Release? is an album bursting with heart, soul and genuine joie de vivre, writes DOM ALESSIO.

Bliss Release* doesn’t exist in the place where you and I are right now. Rather, it’s from a mystical, wondrous land; one where fields of vivid green grass are flanked by giant, rolling hills and clear blue skies hang overhead. There’s probably even a rainbow arching across the scene as well. This is where I imagine Cloud Control spent their time writing the 10 songs that make up their stellar debut album. In reality, it’s not too far from the truth. The indie quartet mostly hail from The Blue Mountains in NSW, a place that feels like a country town though you could drive to Sydney in an hour on a good day. It’s also where they recorded the majority of *Bliss Release*, in various family homes with Liam Judson from Belles Will Ring. To capture the nuanced beauty of Cloud Control, Judson went analog, opting to use tape rather than a computer to record *Bliss Release. What a great idea, because it really makes all the difference.

The album opens with a hum, before an acoustic guitar introduces ?Meditation Song #2 (Why, Oh Why)?. Alister Wright and Heidi Lenffer enter the song in unison. ?Make my head a pool of water now,? they sing harmoniously. ?Can’t stop thinking all about her now.? There’s a lot of love in Bliss Release – whether it’s in the subject matter, or the way the recording’s been treated. Even when Jeremy Kelshaw enters with his fuzzed-to-fuck bass and Lenffer busts out an organ line that wouldn’t sound of place on a ?70s prog record, there’s a certain warmth to it – and a sense of space too. You can hear it on a song like ?Ghost Ship?. They’ve utilised whatever room in whatever house they were recording in to create a natural reverb, which makes you feel like you’re being enveloped by the music.

?The great triumph of ‘Bliss Release’ is that it’s a totally coherent package of music; a rarity in an age where people are far more likely to buy (or illegally download) individual songs than whole albums.?

The first half of the album is definitely the strongest. Here you’ll find ?There’s Nothing In The Water We Can’t Fight?, a euphoric tour de force, replete with handclaps, driving bass and Wright’s impassioned chanting. It’s also the album’s anomaly. Strangely, or perhaps tellingly, it’s the only song recorded in a proper recording studio (Albert’s) by someone other than Judson (uber producer Wayne Connolly). When you listen to the last half of Bliss Release, it’s obvious that someone – most likely the record label – felt the album needed another radio single. Whatever its reason for inclusion, it’s an amazing song, though it would have been nice to hear Judson’s delicate production values put to use on that tune as well.

That’s not to discredit the last half of Bliss Release*, which is noticeably more stripped back and less catchy than the hymnal ?Gold Canary?, with its chorale of ?whoops? and ?nah-nahs?, or the rococo beauty of ?This Is What I Said?, the record’s most blatantly upbeat song. Tracks like ?Just For Now? and the Henffer-led ?Beast of Love? are reminiscent of the more sombre moments on Grizzly Bear’s *Veckatimest. The vocal harmonies are far more ethereal and detached; strummed acoustic guitars anchor the songs. ?My Fear #2? includes a deliciously funky bassline from Kelshaw and some gnarly guitar feedback from Wright, who sounds like he’s channelling the spirit of Rowland S Howard, but the song lacks the intractable pop hooks of some of the album’s earlier numbers.

And yet the great triumph of Bliss Release is that it’s a totally coherent package of music; a rarity in an age where people are far more likely to buy (or illegally download) individual songs than whole albums. From ?Meditation Song #2? to ?Beast of Love?, Cloud Control guide you through a joyous journey that takes its cues from ?60s folk (think The Byrds and their associated clique), right up to modern proponents of the genre such as Fleet Foxes and the aforementioned Grizzly Bear.

Bliss Release sounds like its title. It’s an album that will take you to that mystical, wondrous land with the green grass and dappled sunlight. It’s pop music with heart and soul, and it’s a beautiful listen.

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Cloud Control’s Bliss Release is out now through The Ivy League.