Album Review: Cloud Castle Lakes Make A Picasso Debut In Malingerer
Cloud Castle Lakes’ debut, Malingerer, feels like the Picasso of debuts. It is abstract and completely morphed in human shaped to make your emotions reveal their truest form: divided. If you have ever seen a Picasso painting, it is splashy, colorful, and has the tendency to chop up a face’s features to make its beauty seem uncomfortable. In many ways, Malingerer does the same.
The gorgeousness of Malingerer relies on human siren/ lead vocalist Daniel McAuley. Songs like, “Two Birds”, “Genuflect”, and “Bonfire” feel like tender nightmares. One minute you are hiking through the most gorgeous mountain, and the next you are falling down its jagged, sharp side; that is how life is until you climb back up again. McAuley has a magnetizing ability to climb through high notes like a man scarred by hurt but filled with hope. Even in concert, I knew this man’s voice was blessed, but, hearing it on album, makes you feel like you are carrying a blessing with you.
From “Twins” to “A Monument”, there are times when you need a song to make you day feel epic and beautiful. Cloud Castle places every string in their melody like diamonds and coals; sometimes they will shine and other time they will feel sullied, but they will always feel like a natural story. Hearing “Fern” or “Koi Pond” on a bus, made me feel like I was taking the journey of Life of Pi; turning my mundane into magical. Moreover, Cloud Castle make LONG songs, which I love. They give you a 7 minute tale of how life threw a batch of plot twists at your protagonist, but, somehow, he managed to turn them right back around.
Cloud Castle Lake is stunning in music, and we all need an artist, in our playlist, that ignites fantasies, like a Picasso. Every instrumental and note that McAuley hits abstracts your imagination to make you reflect on your reality. In essence, Malingerer does not only make you feel dreamy, it makes you feel smart and empowered. For More Information On Cloud Castle Lakes and To Buy Malingerer Click Here.
