Somewhere in between Heaven and the heavens, between ‘could’ and ‘clouds’ is Marc Behrens Clould. Composed of sounds recorded inside aeroplanes, airports, and other flight-related locations, this work brings together the reality and myth of the skies. An area once dominated by deities has now become a travel lane for millions, and while the mystery seems to have disappeared, the fascination with this aerial realm is as strong as ever. Clould combines these by taking the physical aspect, manipulating the recordings, and delivering an intriguing, mysterious-sounding work.
Structured around five movements of varying length, Clould is an interesting work that plays in higher spaces and aerial ideas, making the most of the flight-based field recordings. Much like the atmosphere, there is a lot of open space on the album, adding nice points for artistic reflection, although it does take away from the straight listenability of the material. However, the manipulated recordings when being active cover quite a lot of ground, going from softer and haunting up to somewhat rough and tumble, but always keeping a close distance to the main theme of the work. The atmospheric, droning pieces have a little bit more structure to them and fair the best on the album. Their depth and texture flow nicely and help draw the listener in, discovering other layers and textures within.
The sound of workers and machines add interesting touches and give the songs a somewhat otherworldliness, like hearing those ancient deities and their heavenly conversations. These vocal samples seem to be the basis for the more sparse/minimal tracks, but they’re altered enough that their provenance isn’t completely obvious. Taking Clould into a weirder direction, the warped words feel very alien and help to reinforce the fact that the sky realm wasn’t always ours to enjoy.
Clould is an intriguing study of the skies through the lens of modern machinery, technology, and industry, shining a different light on the realm that was once only a dream for mortals. While it’s a little uneven, it’s a nice artistic work and is definitely worth checking out. Delving further into the layers reveals a lot more than what’s on the surface and putting the time in to discover what’s underneath is quite enjoyable. Paul Casey
via Musique Machine