The Cloud Room - The Cloud Room

If in doubt, blame Interpol. Granted, it's not an axiom many adhere to – after all, plenty of grief-stricken doom-mongers plied their trade in indie-land before the NYC quartet rose to the fore. But ever since the group's post-punk soul-searching hit the airwaves, a torrent of clones have hankered after their chin-stroking adulation. The Cloud Room are undoubtedly of this coattail-clinging ilk. Impregnated in muffled atmospherics, this eponymous LP is tied to the-tried-and-trusted methodology of spiraling guitars droning aimlessly over a morose narrative of escapism. Each track is executed meticulously - with anthemic odysseys like Sunset Song and Blue Jean readily standing neck hairs to attention. Yet there's little variation in tempo; rendering frontman J Stuart's emotive croon irrelevant long before the spiritless doldrums of Devoured In Peace. Rather than castigating The Cloud Room for such tedium, let's just hope a certain band is feeling pretty damn guilty right now. [Billy Hamilton]

Read an alternative take on The Cloud Room's eponymous record here, courtesy of The Skinny's Music team.