Cloud Person; Photo Credit: Oceanna Tout
Since their formation in 2012, Seattle sextet Cloud Person have been many different bands. From their indie folk origins to their psych rock rebirth on 2016’s Apparatus, the band’s commitment to reinvention has remained steadfast. Their new EP Caligula dives deeper into psychedelic fuzz tones, vast instrumental passages, and hypnotic harmonies that combine to create an epic stoner rock , loyal to no sub-genre or standard song structure.
Founded and fronted by singer/guitarist, Pete Jordan, Cloud Person’s power is imbued with a vulnerability evident throughout their work. In “Get Me Out of This City”, Jordan sings with pained resignation about the stunting effect a small town can have on the expressive and unapologetic.
As Michael Fisher (solo guitar) and Dane Ueland (guitar/aux. vocals) join Jordan in creating their wall of sound, Mikkel Lee Myers’s (keyboard/aux. vocals) piano and synth lines create an elegant contrast, a haunting delicacy amidst a sea of distortion. Cameron Arneson (bass/aux. vocals) and Steve Straney (percussion) collaborate with extreme precision, as evidenced on the punkish romp, “Caligula”. Deftly arranged to allow for maximum volume while keeping the vocals front and center, Cloud Person’s message is felt and heard in equal proportion.
“Tread Light,” the latest single from Cloud Person, is a five-minute opus that barrels through punk, indie, prog, and dream-pop without chaining itself to the constraints of those genres. Anchored by Jordan’s impassioned vocals, the song soars, then bathes in ethereal beauty before escalating into full-on garage/psych-rock fury. “Yeah I love you but you couldn’t be less right” Jordan declares, “Well I congratulate your candor, but sometimes poison can look and taste just like air.” —Poetic, tragic, and immaculately composed, “Tread Light” is a voyage both cynical and cosmic.
