Future Clouds and Radar Has a Promising Forecast

Second release possesses diverse styles and musical courage

Future Clouds & Radar

Peoria

Released on Nov 04, 2008

8

When your first release as a band is an epic, 27-song double disc collection, it would seem like the only direction your group can go is down.  However, front man Robert Harrison showcases his incredible capabilities as both a performer and a songwriter, making Peoria a solid follow-up, rather than a half-baked sophomore effort.

Harrison's original band, Cotton Mather, fell easily into the power pop genre. While Future Clouds and Radar has been classified as such, Peoria avoids such grand generalizations. Thanks to the addition of a couple of seven-minute long songs that morph into jazz improvisations, this disc begs to be thought of as an eclectic complement to their first self-titled release.

Since seven-minute tracks aren't guaranteed to please every listener, Future Clouds did themselves a favor by adding a few songs that go down a little easier. "Eighteen Months" features all of the varied instrumentation of the longer tracks, but is condensed into a listenable three minutes. It's a solid track with a tight sound, and the horns littered throughout provide the perfect soundtrack to driving away from the cops, or any other number of more legal situations.

"Follow the Crane"—one of the seven-minute numbers—manages to sound ethereal , yet grounded at the same time. His voice sounds like it's on a different plane at times, and when that is combined with jazzy keyboards, more horns, and a cacophony of other sounds and tones, it's the most layered offering on Peoria.  However, this layering does pose a few problems. Around the time when the police sirens come in, one starts to wonder if the band is just laying every sound down to prove that yes, one really can have that much variety in a song. This feeling passes though, and listeners are left with a compelling track to listen to and play "name that sound" with.

The band's talent lies entirely in their ability to mix genres—at times, they sound like shoegazers, other times, they've got an almost country twang—yet still create listenable tracks. While their experiementation does prove to be a little too much at times, this is one of the more creative albums that I've heard in a long time. That creativity does take some time to sink in, so give yourself a few listens before you cast it aside. Chances are, around the third or fourth rotation, you'll be glad you gave this eclectic band a chance.

High Point

"The Epcot View" sounds whimsical, rueful, and catchy all at once. It's definitely a combination worth hearing.

Low Point

While I can appreciate ADD on a seven-minute track, "Mummified" tries on a few too many hats, even for a slightly experimental band.

Posted by Alyssa Vincent on Nov 14, 2008 @ 9:00 am