Indiana multi-genre alchemists Cloakroom will release their new album, Last Leg of the Human Table, on Feb 28. This follows on the heels of 2022’s Dissolution Wave”, a record that found them eschewing stable modalities in favor of chaotic musical arrangements. It hit like a jackhammer too. Their new one continues their experiments with further sonic blurring, offering a collection of pop, shoegaze, doom, post-punk and folk aesthetics that barely scratch the surface of their collective influences. You can catch a glimpse of those interlocking impulses on “Unbelonging”, which the band released as a teaser back in October of last year.
With new single “Bad Larry”, they look back over the last 60 years of musical history and handpick specific moments to illuminate. Landing somewhere between Wayne Cochran and Gin Blossoms, the track is a rambling pop gem, a shuffling bout of cosmic Americana echoing around the rural landmarks of Laurel Canyon. It’s a testament to their ability to broker connections between disparate sounds that this bucolic breeze of a song will sit comfortably alongside any of their heavier work.
“It was written about a fabled character out of folklore like ‘Diamond Joe’ composed by Baldwin ‘Butch’ Hawes.. if that’s who even wrote that song first,” explains lyricist-guitarist Doyle Martin. “Bad Larry roams free and wants for nothing; living a life of experience and lives by his own rules and dying on his own terms; a life to vilify or envy.”
Check out the video below.
Last Leg of the Human Table is due out Feb 28 via Closed Casket. You can pre-order it here. Follow the band on Facebook and Instagram.
