Desert Clouds - Planexit (Album Review)

In this age of 2 minute songs, lyrics written by idiots for idiots, cheap overnight ‘viral’ fame and an obsession with ‘gaming’ algorithms or playlists, it is a great relief to hear proper music written without a single f*%k given to all of those superficial, external concerns. Concerns that rightly should have no place in true creativity. There. I said it. Yes, music has always been beholden to changes in popular format (Shellac 78s, 12” vinyl, reel-to-reel tape, cassettes, CD, minidisc (!), MP3, streaming etc) but seriously - where do we go from here before music is totally meaningless? 1:30 songs? 45 second songs? Maybe just choruses even - let’s cut out the middle man. No lyrics at all? Maybe we could all just write jingles that sound a bit like rock music? For the love of God - NO. NO. NO. A line must be drawn and we are there now.

I would like to believe that I am an open-minded and tolerant person that values and appreciates music of all genres (and I really do), but let us say simply that something is deeply wrong with ‘popular’ music in 2022. That is why it is so important that scenes like ours exist, and that somehow they are thriving despite the challenges we have all faced in recent years as musicians. Maybe those challenges have pushed us all further somehow. Bearing this short rant in mind, let me tell you here that next week Desert Clouds will be releasing their long-awaited and album in ‘Planexit’’ (released by Mandrone Records, recorded /produced by Dave Holmes at Lightship 93 Studio), and it might just be the most important album that you hear this year.

It opens right away with the album title track ‘Planexit’ - not tactically saved as ‘meat’ for a lift somewhere mid-late album, or left as some clever sweetener at the very end. It’s the very first track, and at just over 7 minutes long it is a mission statement, including varied time signatures and a giant ‘battleship riff’ (as I call them) firmly in the tradition of past luminaries like Soundgarden, moments of moving anger and vitriol, an expansive guitar section played with real style and a contemplative and totally appropriate flute solo (well done Julius) towards the end. Put simply, this is what real music sounds like. Music freely given and offered out to the world. Not ‘planned’ or cynically deliberate. Not saccharine sweet. Not immature. Not aping other bands or dishing up tired, overly-generous and bland servings of what might be expected of them. It has an honest, understated musical confidence, seething with anger, hurt and disappointment. A band that knows who they are, what they do best, and what they need to say.

‘Mamarse’ offers a lean, well-paced and immediately contrasting track with meaty guitars, gritty vocals and grungey chord changes. Brief flashes of Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder vocals, but not derivative. There is honesty and power of Davide’s vocal delivery, bass & drums locked-in, and two layered guitars delivering a barrage of energy. Valerio’s’ harmonies lift things even higher somehow.

‘Wheelchair’ takes things down nicely with an intriguing intro, which highlights some of things they do best when playing live. Very atmospheric. Exposed lyrics (I look forward to seeing the lyric sheets at a later stage) and melodies that shift, swell and grow throughout in line with the music, reaching a guitar-led crescendo at the end.

‘Staring at the Midnight Sun’ sees Valerio take the mic for the vocals, with a different vocal texture that is no less enchanting. If Davide is the fire in this band, Valerio is the earth perhaps, and the two of them complement each other in an elemental kind of way. ‘Sometimes you lead, sometimes you are just a ride.’ A solid, psychedelic groove here, with Andrea and Julius doing a lot of the heavy lifting. The main chorus-line really lifts the track and is cleverly written, and the guitaring towards the end, heavily modulated and laden with just the right mix of tension, dirt and reverb is lovely, with some busy bass running underneath it all. By the end of this track I’m tempted to roll one up…if I wasn’t already.

‘Willow’ gives Andrea a moment to shine at the forefront with a short drum solo intro. Contrasting soft/hard sections in the verses and a cool chorus with some trippy (phased?) vocal chorusing works really well. ‘I’m not okay - you know why!’ Have that! A pounding mid-section and a short guitar solo leading to the track’s bridge, then vocal lift off.

‘Deceivers’ comes back down again with just some exposed guitar arpeggios and bass, gradually giving us the thread to come. Lovely vocals - Davide is at his melodic best here, delivered without the customary anger, and with some beautiful if fleeting harmonies. ‘I hold a sign’. The track grows gradually with psychedelic muscularity (is that even a thing? it is now), coming in at an ambitious 6:31, but without any flabbiness. ‘I know we’re all mean but we’ll never lie, we’re all deceivers.’

‘Revolutionary Lies’ is a growling, deliberately chaotic track with cleverly panned vocal tracks that sit apart from each other but ‘meet’ well in the middle. Big, insistent bass and drums pounding along with discordant guitars lying over the top. ‘Get out of my sight’. Progressive basslines and off-kilter time signatures create mischief towards the song’s abrupt close.

‘Pearl Marmalade’ opens with a lovely guitar intro and some excellent vocals. Compliments to the producer and recording studio for really getting the best of them here. I sometimes struggle to make out the words at times, which is the only minor ‘fly in the ointment’, as I really really want to know what is being said. The music is excellent and the vocals hit hard with remarkable power at times. Such a tasteful track this, and a potential favourite for me. These guys can do ‘soft’ just as capably as they can do power, and that is no mean feat.

‘Speed of Shadow’ takes us back to DC at their angriest, heavy hard-rock with a few tricks kept up their sleeves. ‘At the speed of shadow, everything will fade’. After a couple of minutes we take orbit and float above the track, guitars and bass with plenty of atmospherics. You could easily think that the song was over at 2:43 but it then takes on a whole new dimension. YES to the Julius on the bass, laying down an effect and menacing groove with Andrea holding the beat down with style. Trippy ‘POG’ guitars that take on an organ type sound suddenly reminiscent of The Doors. These guys have ideas coming out of their ears, but it’s not gratuitous. It all somehow adds to the mix, and I trust them with it musically, because they do not mess about or get carried away. Great lead guitar with meandering solos and hung chords coming in and out, punctuating the track. Tone for days. Proper banger! And then again, that same sexy bass and drum groove brings us home. ‘I'm looking forward…’

And then suddenly its all over. WHAT?! NO WAY! How can it be! It feels like we just got started. There may just be 9 songs but WHAT an adventure they take you on in that time - and we must remember, four of these tracks clock in over the 6 minute mark. The album leaves you wanting, needing more. The quality of the recording is top-notch and everything has been put together in the best possible way. Effects that enhance and never detract, excellent clarity and mixing, and an good overall freshness to the overall sound. I have deliberately left this review until just before their ‘Planexit’ album launch party next weekend (Saturday 26 March 2022, Hope & Anchor) at CWL VII so that I could fully enjoy it nearer the time, and I really hope that they will cover most, if not all of this release, in their set, because it will be a real moment to behold live. Something special for us, for them, and for the whole scene. Their music sums up much of what they are like in person, and I am proud to be their friends (although I’d still love to know them better).

For the sake of those of you out there that haven’t met them, Davide is a great guy who has a kind of duality to him, on the surface he is genuinely friendly, humble and polite, but he also has a hardness to him at his centre and you can tell there is a lot going on underneath. He has a well-developed nose for bullshit (so don’t even try it). He does not waste words. He does not flatter needlessly, he says what he means and probably doesn’t suffer fools well. He is lean, tough as boots and wily as the streets of his hometown in Naples. I want to know more about his story, as I would bet good money that there is one there. Valerio is a bit more of a social animal you could say, friendly, jovial and big-hearted. Honest and kind, and a great foil for Davide as they combine to form the main engineroom of the band. Andrea on drums is sincere and has a playfulness to him that I appreciate, a solid player who is great live but never tries to steal the show, and Julius seems to be cool and collected, calm and modest, but clearly a big part of what they do and with a deep musicality.

They are good people - real people. Truly genuine people that care. They are a tight group of friends with a single-purpose, doing battle with life, like we all are, and trying to find meaning. They have worked bloody hard over the years that I have known them and they really do deserve for this album release to get find a bigger audience in the wider grunge/stoner/heavy psychedelic scene. I think this album is a bit of a landmark for them, actually, maybe even their masterpiece, boiled down from all of the years that they have worked away in this genre and through all the anger, hurt and disillusionment in their normal human lives. At times it is exceptional in a way that you rarely come across. It is fair to say that they are a big part of our scene, and we deeply appreciate them. Next weekend, we will celebrate it all together.

DK (20/03/22)