Monday evening. End of the worst day of the week. Ready for some dream pop? I thought you might be.
It isn’t often we get a press release from a ‘super group’ but that’s what Cloud Cuckoo say they are, and I’m not going to argue – all but one of its six actual or prior members (a bassist “has left us for Svalbard”, which sounds like being sent to Siberia) are graduates of the jazz programme at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, which is about as high as you can get academically so there’s nothing to argue about. Q.E.D.
That said, it is actually a solo project, of Hedda Hammer Myhre, who calls on the abilities of numerous ex-students in the fields of jazz (obviously), pop and rock to help her.
There is perhaps more of a coming together of those disciplines (with a dose of psych, too) in their previous and more up-tempo single, ‘Cloud Song’ but ‘Lost again’ is a stripped back dream pop ballad at its best, from its ultra simple opening four note melody line that could be a ringtone or the sound of an ice cream van’s attempts to lure the children of the neighbourhood, to the equally ultra wistful vocal delivery by Hedda and the harmonising to which each band member sounds as if they have contributed to.
The song’s purpose is to try to evoke the sensation of falling in love, “like a soft hug” they say and that’s exactly what you get. Now I’m too old to remember what it was like to fall in love in my teens (or even to remember my own name sometimes, but that’s another story), but you know ‘Lost again’ did manage to push some ancient and rarely used buttons, if you get my drift.
The concept of “wandering around” and “losing my grip on reality” was rekindled, perhaps even “flying high above the clouds” but no drugs were used, I assure you.
Then, just as you are wallowing in those reinvigorated but still vague memories along comes an unexpected coda that might have arisen out of Sky News’ latest broadcast from the Middle East. I note that Hanna plays mellotron in another band and I wondered if that was the instrument producing this doom laden sound.
It is certainly an interesting noise, one more suited to Highasakite in their more melancholic moments, the diametric opposite of Neil Diamond’s ‘beautiful noise’ if one that is a little hard to understand the purpose of, and I’d be interested to hear from the band why they chose to end with it.
Their debut album ‘Under the Moon’ will be released on September 5th.
Cloud Cuckoo are, on this track:
Hedda Hammer Myhre (vocals, songwriter, bandleader);
Ask Vatn Strøm (guitar);
David Emhjellen Paulsen (keys);
Vegard Staum (drums);
Simen Sjølie (bass).
The new bassist is Joachim Mørch Meyer.
Find them on:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cloudcuckooband
