The Midweekly is our column from Mike Jeffers; lead singer of Chicago punk stalwarts SCRAM, music junkie and all around righteous dude.
Reach for something tangible and it dissolves into smoke. Shapes and structures lose their definitions. Faces constantly change. The encounters of a dream world, both vivid and vague. Then you wake, left with just a weird combination of feelings. The experience is better conveyed through music, like the latest record Dissolution Wave, by northwest Indiana trio Cloakroom. It’s a concept album about a force that destroys all art and imagination, and songsmiths must create new material to keep the world on its axis. The band keeps it sludgy with down-tempo heaviness on tracks like “Lost Meaning” and “Fear of Being Fixed.” And also lighten it up with shoe-gazing, pop tracks like “A Force At Play” and “Lambspring.” Whatever mood they wish to envelop you with as they send you off into the waking world, it will be as fuzzy as the riffs, reverberated as the solos, or distant as the drums. Shrouded in mystery, yet still connected to the ground, the lyrics deliver questions and reflections about the uneasiness of continuing on with what’s lost and what’s still to gain. The vocal hooks are subtle, and sometimes delivered barely above a whisper. They lend themselves tastefully to the effects and accentuated feedback, rather than become the focal point. It’s no wonder Matt Talbot, of fellow drone rockers Hum, provides his voice in a guest appearance. Close your eyes and enter an alternate reality with Cloakroom, and help the world to stay spinning, even if it is all a dream.
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