(Altered/Ichiban)
If you look at The Clouds of Sydney, Australia, long enough you can see anything you want - quirky pop band, grrrl punks, or metal heads. The Clouds can be light and fluffy, dark and ominous or just a little silly.
Collage is a collection of old demos, songs from the band's debut Penny Century, and material from the EPs Beetroot and Aquamarine. These songs have made the band a staple on the alternative charts down under since 1990 and it makes you wonder why this four-piece hasn't hit in America as often, especially in an era when practically every female-fronted band from Boston to Seattle was getting a listen and a web site.
The CD opens with the driving "Aquamarine," which highlights the band's penchant for sonic assault, particularly through David Easton's guitar work. It's a nice song but it doesn't prepare you for the second track, "Bubble Baby."
Opening with a thumping mid-tempo drum beat, "Bubble Baby" is squashed by a few hammered organ chords, then rebuilt from the ground up as guitar, bass, incidental percussion, lead vocals, background vocals and finally the opening drum riff are layered in one at a time. About 3:19 later, you realize the song never stopped building for a single second, and that the two-beat "break" right before Jodie Phillis wails the word "sin" was just an accent mark.
The third song, "Immorta," again stars Easton's guitar, this time in an opening riff that reaches into your chest cavity and vibrates its way up the back of your head. The harmonies and interplay of lead vocalist Phillis and bassist/vocalist Patricia Young float across the top of the guitar action like, well, clouds.
In fact, each song seems to bring a new approach to the standard guitar-bass-drums-vocal lineup. If there's one staple to each of the disc's 12 tracks, it's the blending of Easton's ferocious guitar with the nimble vocals of Phillis and Young. "So Close" and the Jimmy Webb classic "Wichita Lineman" showcase the vocals at their prettiest. The massive "Boy of Air," complete with John Bonham-like drumming by Raphael Whittingham, answers the musical question "what would it sound like if Sinead O'Connor got off her high horse to front a metal band?"
This is the second American album by The Clouds and it proves the band is as talented as any alt-rock creation in the states. The band is back in Australia touring and working on new material. If Collage is any indication, this may be the calm before a much-welcome storm.
