Monday, June 29, 2009

Sperm Whales - Endless Sea Of Clouds (Little Fury Things, 2008)


Sperm Whales - Floating Forward








If you live anywhere near Boston then you know it's been fucking gray as hell and raining for what feels like 2 months straight. Fucking bogus. Thankfully, we got Sperm Whales here to give us our antidote, a big dose of vitamin D.

Endless Sea Of Clouds is a shimmery minimal ambient affair with lots of guitars and electronics, each taking their own turn. It's kind of like a cross between Eluvium and White Rainbow, except with Whales, I don't get the same psychedelic third eye mind expansion feeling that comes with White Rainbow's stuff. Imagine running through the forest to get to the beach and you're on the right track.

One of the best parts of Endless Sea Of Clouds (other than it's highly appropriate name) is the third track, "Floating Forward." It reminds me so much of one of my all time favorites movies, Flight Of The Navigator. I don't know if it sounds like it should be in the movie or if it just gives me the same feeling as shooting across the Everglades at Mach 10 but either way it's the fucking best.

Sperm Whales hasn't done anything especially innovative with Clouds but sometimes it sure feels like it. All of the varying instrumentation and (faux?) field recordings constantly come as a surprise. Maybe its just because I have it in my head that this is a guitar loop record but there's plenty of plinking toy piano sounds, electronic wackiness, and chirping birds. Like when "Prismatic Inquisition" comes on with it's 8-bit melodies and cacophony. I can most certainly say I wasn't expecting that. Nor was I expecting to hear the sound of grabbing a coin from Super Mario World on "Reproductive Adaptation." That's probably one of the most pleasant surprises I've had in listening to a record in a long time.

Endless Sea Of Clouds is a record that delights me to no end. The name of the record, the artist's name, the music itself, the packaging, it's all perfect. The CD comes in a little burlap pouch with an insert and an elaborately designed CD-R.

P.S. Check out the Sperm Whales Vimeo page for tons of amazing music videos.

2 comments:

SPERMWHALES said...

Hi, This is by far the nicest thing anyone has ever said about my music. If you send my your address i'll send you some albums for free. Just email me at brentthegrant@yahoo.com.

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