Aureliua

With 2010’s Fin Eaves, Cloudland Canyon found its voice. Ironically, this was done by burying the already-hushed vocals of former Panthers guitarist Kip Uhlhorn and his wife, Kelly, under blankets of electric guitar effects reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine, Flying Saucer Attack, and Spiritualized. With this 2012 three-song release, the band fertilizes those shoegazing roots with heavy doses of ambient psychedelia. Aureliua is the first of a triptych of EPs. It opens with the sprawling sonic panorama of the 13-minute title track. “Aureliua” bubbles with vintage analog synthesizer tones chirping and percolating under a continually ascending drone. Fans of Cloudland Canyon’s 2008 album Lie in Light will find a warm familiarity in the subtle Krautrock textures that introduce the lead composition here. As the song progresses, strobes of ping-pong tremolo seep in and take over, balancing the band’s earlier penchant for bygone German-flavored proto-electro with the Spacemen 3–inspired dream-pop of Fin Eaves. In fact, Spacemen 3’s Pete Kember mastered this EP, which is evident in the pulsating “Closer” and the hard, hypnotic oscillations of “Light Falling.”