Dissolution Wave

by Cloakroom

Overview

The Indiana shoegazers' third long-player, Dissolution Wave undulates like a deep space radio emission, reaching out amongst the graveyard of stars in search of a ping. Billed as a sci-fi concept album about rebuilding the world after an artistic extinction event, the eight-song set feels both taut and expansive, adding a few new sludgy paths to the sonic landscaping of its predecessor, 2017's excellent, if overlong, Time Well. The narrative, which follows an asteroid miner who spends his evenings penning songs, is mostly impenetrable. Still, the band provides plenty of aural exclamation points along the way to support vocalist/guitarist Doyle Martin's evocative lyrics. Opener "Lost Meaning" sets the bar high, pairing crushing heaviness with airy melodic shifts that elicit the vastness and loneliness of the cosmos. That sense of incorporeal dread continues on the billowy title cut, which leans hard into the band's classic British shoegaze tendencies. Similarly, "A Force at Play" combines heady dream pop and spacious post-rock before settling into dense, melody-driven sludge metal. For the most part, the remaining five tracks follow suit, with the reflective, Midwest Americana-leaning "Doubts" serving as the closest thing to an outlier. Clocking in at just over 37 minutes, Dissolution Wave doesn't overstay its welcome, which helps to absolve it of some of its more directionless moments. However, even at their meandering, Cloakroom manage to compel, and their seismic heft and majestic layers of sound do all they can to counteract the weightlessness of space. ~ James Christopher Monger

Product Details

Release Date:	01/28/2022
Label:	Relapse Records
UPC:	0781676741915
Rank:	52476

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Cloakroom   Primary Artist
Matt Talbott   Loops,Piano
Jason Gagovski   Percussion
Timothy Remis   Drums,Guitar,Vocals,Keyboards
Doyle Martin   Guitar,Vocals,Keyboards
Robert Markos   Bass,Guitar,Keyboards

Technical Credits

Bill Connors   Artwork
Will Yip   Mastering
Zac Montez   Mixing
Simon Fang   Photography