London-based band Psychic Markers recently announced their third album, Psychic Markers, which is due for release on May 29 through Bella Union. Following the lead single “Silence In The Room”, we today have the pleasure of premiering the second insight into the forthcoming album, “Clouds”. It’s a song with plenty going on, theoretically as well as musically, so we’d better let the band describe the thought process in their own words:
“The pressures of society don’t begin in adulthood, they start as soon as you’re able to communicate and essentially from the moment you can walk, talk and shit by yourself. These initial milestones are the foundations of responsibility and invariably the moment the pressure mounts. Questions surrounding your future begin immediately, “What do you want to be when you get older?”, for example. This emphasis on the future only grows in tandem with the pressures of adulthood and my opinion is to live more in the present and to alleviate some of this pressure, especially in the young. Alan Watts describes it as the point in the middle of an hourglass, we have these huge spaces containing the past and the present but only one grain of sand for the present. This obviously makes it a particularly difficult place to exist.
“These points are echoed in Clouds, written from the perspective of a child who I feel should be encouraged to let the imagination run wild, look up to the clouds, the stars and be free.”
That lets you know just how much Psychic Markers offer us to chew on while listening to the propulsive “Clouds”, but it’s an enlivening trip. Starting with motorik beats and scraping synths, we feel the weight of the world on Steven Dove’s childhood shoulders, but rather than buckle he mentally frees himself from it all: “today’s the day to leave all that behind.” As “Clouds” continues its unstoppable ascent, Psychic Markers imbue it with more colourful sounds and we feel the pressure start to slip, allowing us to glide blissfully heavenwards to careless peace.
Psychic Markers’ new self-titled album comes out through Bella Union on May 29 (pre-order). Follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Bandcamp.
