Midwest trio Cloakroom are releasing their third album Dissolution Wave in January, an album which guitarist/vocalist Doyle Martin has likened to “dreaming up another world” to escape the horrors of the last couple of years, during which they’ve lost some people.
Today, they share the opening track, “Lost Meaning”, with Martin saying that it’s “the beginning of our traveler’s expedition. It’s the first step out of your comfort zone into unfamiliar territory. When you cross that threshold what do you take with you to maintain some sense of the Self? If anything, leaving for a ‘land of silver gilt’ is referring to a gilded age, an egocentric near-future our protagonist is tasked to meander around which of course mirrors our own. Our humble songsmith is singing to the Spire and the Ward of Song, the great filter, the barometer of creative thought in this universe. With any luck, they’ll be acknowledged and their voice won’t get lost in the discordance of meaningless creativity for the wrong reasons.”
It’s certainly quite a gale force to step into, Cloakroom’s guitars immediately coiling around your mind like a frosty tornado. Martin’s voice remains placid as the band roil and rumble through this undulating piece – he’s focused, determined. “Are you with me?” he asks, and the trio certainly are – the riffs grow, the bass and drums deepen, and guitars scorch from above like insane lightning, and there is a sense of staying united through it all. “Lost Meaning” is a showcase for Cloakroom’s tight instrumental interplay and the way they’ve honed their production skills to add new heft and dynamism to their maelstrom of finely-carved noise.
Cloakroom’s new album Dissolution Wave arrives on January 28 through Relapse (pre-order/save). You can find the band on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
