Stare At The Clouds
The Clear Divide
Release Date: 15 April 2016
Review by Rod Whitfield
I was talking to someone about this the other day. Australia has quite a depressed music industry, there’s no money, the live scene is slowly but surely shrinking, the mainstream media ignores our scene (unless your career kicked off on a TV talent show, in which case it puts you in the spotlight for about 15 seconds before casting its gaze elsewhere), governments don’t give a shit and the general public barely knows it exists. And yet, against all these odds, our nation, our underground music scene, continues to produce ridiculously talented bands and artists who produce compellingly enjoyable music.
And here is yet another one.
Stare at the Clouds are a new band from Sydney, and for a new band their sound is highly mature and developed. Drawing influence from your typical Aussie progressive acts like Karnivool and The Butterfly Effect (from whom they would get much of their dark ambience, I’m sure), plus internationals like A Perfect Circle and Porcupine Tree, they channel it all into a sound that is dark, slow-burning and quite chunky. The songs are conceptual and theatrical and the band have a strong grasp of dynamics and light and shade, as you’d expect from a progressive band.
My only slight beef is the vocals. They lack a special something, a powerful and dynamic range, they don’t rise and fall with the ebb and flow of the music as much as they possibly could. I’m sure that will come with time and subsequent releases however.
All up, this is a mighty debut. I will watch this band’s career unfold with interest. You can listen to the track, The Falling, off the new album below.
https://soundcloud.com/collisioncoursepr/stare-at-the-clouds-02-the-falling-this-clear-divide
