Fade by Cloudkicker Review

Learning a musical instrument can be hard. Learning to use those skills to write songs of real depth and character can be even harder. Ben Sharp manages to do it on a regular and consistent basis – all on his own. That’s right, Cloudkicker is a one-man DIY project, meaning everything is recorded and produced by Ben himself including guitar, bass and programmed drums. Over the past five years Cloudkicker has captured a following after three full-length albums. These have spanned over various genres from progressive metal and post-rock, to acoustic. Ben says his music is a hobby and he does it for the love it, and it shows.

Fade is the most recent of his releases and serves as a diverse mix between Cloudkicker’s old heavier sound to a more ambient and post-rock one. Like almost all his other work, it’s purely instrumental; no vocals are present on any of the tracks. This allows the chemistry between instruments to breathe and shine through. Over the seven tracks, listeners are treated to a roller coaster of sounds, from simple-yet-melodic clean guitar picking to bright or heavy rock with a dash of ambiance. The drums are warm and provide a driving backbone for each song, taking a backseat when they need to.

Ultimately though, Fade‘s biggest strength and weakness lies in its song structure. Most of the tracks are defined by a couple of base guitar riffs which are repeated for a couple of minutes each, building upon themselves to create a ‘drony’ feel, which can also be seen by the band This Will Destroy You. This does well to create a rich atmosphere for itself, but can sometimes feel a bit grating on the ears, throwing off any ambiance it first created. This only becomes apparent in some of the longer tracks however, which verge anywhere from six to nine minutes.

Fade does require patience to listen to, but if you lend your ears to Cloudkicker for 41 minutes you may find a rewarding new album to love. Or hate? You can make your own decision by listening to his Bandcamp page, where all his efforts to date can be downloaded legally for free.

3.7/5