cloudboy unauthorised : a collection of rare, live and demo material

Cloudboy were a Dunedin-based band fronted by Demarnia Lloyd in the late-nineties through to the early thousands. Their one long player, Down at the End of the Garden (2001) was met with instant critical acclaim throughout New Zealand for its accomplished mix of electronic instrumentation and beautiful songs. Befitting the hushed meditative vibe of the album, non-traditional venues (such as the art gallery in Auckland) were wisely chosen for the equally acclaimed album release shows.

That was indeed the last we heard from Cloudboy. The album is long out of print, and one lending copy alone exists in the Auckland Central library basement. The music industry as a whole has undergone huge changes since that album came out. What hasn't changed is the timeless, ethereal (I know, "ethereal", but still) beauty that this album is imbued with. It's as if Lloyd was writing it in the midst of a hermetic Dunedin winter which she couldn't help but reflect, but didn't want the album to get too cold, so sprinkles it with as much sonic fairy dust as she and her bandmates can lay their hands on. So what we have are many downbeat, semi-electronic mood pieces - the common thread being Lloyd's glacial voice. What prevents it from getting too repetitive or cloying is the variety of different sounds the album employs (from brooding synth strings to sitar to brass to infectious drum and instrument samples) and Lloyd's canny ear for a pop tune, no matter how slow the tempo or introspective the subject matter. Highlights include the stunning 'trance synth' drenched '(You're So) Pretty' (wherein John White and Lloyd's voices make for as lovely a boy-girl harmony mix as any recorded to posterity) and the relatively upbeat 'Daydreamland' which sounds like an old musical showtune dragged into Cloudboy land. A local classic.

- Simon Comber