Crack Cloud – Red Mile

Crack Cloud have been softening a touch over the years; the pained spikiness that charged their initial releases being replaced by a tighter pop sensibility, reinventing themselves whilst many of their peers still mine the post-punk cliches. Their last record changed direction again into dense, ideas-first synth-pop, increasingly reflective of the desires of their drummer/singer/mouthpiece Zach Choy, rather than the sprawling collective that surrounded him.

Here, with the cast list slimmed down to a seven-piece, they feel the most like a band that they have in some time. But what band this time? Well for the most part Red Mile sounds like a 1976 punk band’s third record, where raw fury ceases, replaced by flirtations with pianos and optimism.

Some of it works tremendously well. The slightly gormless swagger that propels Blue Kite meshes brilliantly with the opulent pomp of its surrounding strings, whilst Ballad of Billy has a really enjoyable surly barroom energy to it. But by the same token, the record’s move towards the anthemic is done without much subtlety, their sense of invention deserting them in the rush to get the lighters in the air. Epitaph for instance plods along in truly nondescript fashion, as if designed to soundtrack the gently life-affirming closing montage of a second-rate TV show.

Unfortunately, Red Mile ends up an experiment in straight-forwardness that doesn’t all work, shining best when Crack Cloud embrace their talent for taking the wonky route.

Listen to: Blue Kite, Ballad of Billy, The Medium