Cloudage Cloudage cassette
Debut EP from Toronto-based CLOUDAGE, a feel-good indie set that will have you hooked straight away or leave you spitting up sugary-sweet melodies, depending on your preference for this type of thing. There are fleeting moments of edginess that help cut the sweetness where the backing vocals chime in, and you may feel compelled to nod along. While acoustic guitar strums mix with electric guitar and bass distortion over upbeat drums, the vocals are clearly the focus here: a barrage of narrative lyrics to pull at your memories of breakups and heartache, hardly stopping for a breath, evening singing through outros with “ooh”s and “la da da”s. There’s an homage to Ad-Rock from the BEASTIE BOYS, “Ad-Rock You’re So H”—and is that meant to be ambiguous? Hard? Heavy? Whatever. The closer “Stay Pure” pokes fun at their style with the line “Let bygones be bygones / Don’t turn pain into poetry / To hold onto in sad songs;” a genuine and self-effacing sentiment that may be the thread throughout this four-song debut.