Cloud Repair // ‘Phantom’, 2020 (EP)

Phantom is the second release by Cloud Repair. Clocking in at just under 20 minutes, this is like a short story or short film—-something that can be swallowed in one sitting like a cigarette and a cup of coffee. With Phantom, I tried to prioritize sound building equally with story telling. I think the album really benefitted from this added focus. I wanted more drama! I tried to imagine I was writing a movie script or stage-drama—-something with a visual element. I remember when I first wrote the beginning of ‘Fantasy’; right when I came up with that baseline, I just listened to it over and over again feeling like I had struck gold. It’s kinda funny…. when coming up with riffs for this album, I made “dancing” a sort of litmus test; if I couldn’t dance to the groove then it didn’t make the cut. I tried to make the songs alive, so I felt like they had to be able to make me move.

Concept

Phantom is the sounds of someone weeping and looking for someone to lean on but never quite finding them. Imagine a dream where you are treading water in the middle of a vast blue ocean; the limitless sky and horizon and the unknown depths below elicit horrible beauty. Suddenly, you wake up but half of you has been left behind. You get in the shower, go to work, and go to asleep but your always in that moment where nothingness is everywhere and you are purely the fabric of a dream.

Released March 13, 2020

(hopefully one day, I will be able to do a larger scale printing of the vinyl version to share with you!)