Genre/Influences: Experimental, abstract, ritual, ambient.

Background/Info: Earlier this year the CloudWatchers’ combo Andrés Alonso, Iván Cebrián, Coco Moya and Jaime Munárriz unleashed their newest opus. The formation deals with experimental music based on improvisation.

Content: CloudWatchers are using different instruments and sound/noise sources, which create a rather diversified and open-minded experimental exposure. They take off with a rather psychedelic-like guitar parts joined by mystic-like chants. It creates a somewhat ritual aspect reinforced in the end by a few spoken words. They next move on with mysterious atmospheres reinforced with female chants. The chants/voices are like the guiding line through this work. Electronic loops and a few drones are accentuating the last cut.

+ + + : The songs are pretty extended, but don’t really give me the impression of pure and classical improvisation. There’s a real interesting diversity running through the album, but I have a preference for the somewhat ritual input created by some repetitive sounds/loops and the mystic chants. The tracks are progressively building up. I like the rather anguished atmosphere hanging over the album.

– – – : It’s maybe because of the improvised approach, but I’m missing a truly climax to speak about a total successful opus.

Conclusion: This album makes me think to a sonic voyage throughout mystic fields.

Best songs: “Piece 2”, “Piece1”.

Rate: (7).

Label: www.facebook.com/unexplainedsoundsgroup

About CloudWatchers

CloudWatchers is an improvisation-based project formed by Andrés Alonso, Iván Cebrián, Coco Moya and Jaime Munárriz, named in this review as the quartet behind its 2019 self-titled album. The release came out on CloudWatchers, a label and research platform founded in 2015 by Raffaele Pezzella, who also records as Sonologyst, to document experimental and electronic music scenes with limited international distribution.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com