New York’s Relations are releasing their LP Cloud Dreaming this Friday and Impose has the album’s exclusive premiere. Cloud Dreaming is an eclectic collection of songs that draw from a number of influences and styles for a dynamic and vibrant sound. Produced and engineered by Josh Ascalon at Brooklyn’s RAD Studios, Cloud Dreaming is a noise-pop retrospective on decades of classic rock and pop with its sights set on the future.
Cloud Dreaming opens with the intertwining synths and guitars of “Lost City”. The song has a bright, relaxed groove that frames Mike Sanders’ vocals to dramatic effect. The New Wave rocker “When We Dream (beats)” follows and Timothy Monaghan’s driving percussion gives the song a peppy bounce and depth. “Clear” is immersive, dreamy rock with towering drums and soaring riffs. “Born Under the Snake” has shades of classic rock in its driving rhythm, dynamic arrangement, and push/pull melody.
“Leave It” opens with a cinematic riff and soon silvery synths and guitar strings chime out a verse. On the song’s sunny chorus and hypnotic outro, a celestial ode to Beach Boys style harmonies calls out as waves of instrumentation crash down upon the tune. A pulsing electronic tone beeps out the opening notes of “Everything (police)” as layers of instrumentation are added. Terence Murren’s bass shines through here as it complements the variety of reactions and interactions the song’s seemingly disparate parts have with one another in pleasantly tense ways.
There is also the British Invasion meets New Wave of “Control” and the rock and roll grandeur of “Stars” with slick riffs that shoot out like a switchblade to deftly punctuate the tune’s vocal melody. A shimmying riff and unyielding percussion propels “Carry On” to its colossal outro and “Forty-Three” closes out the album with churning synths and clean metallic guitars under its sky high vocals. While Cloud Dreaming does vascillate quickly between sounds, it manages to create an uncompromising and coherent atmosphere that Relations keeps up from the album’s first track to its last.
Cloud Dreaming will be released this Friday on Midriff Records and is available for pre-order now. You can follow Relations on Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud, and on their website at www.relationsband.com.
