Deko 2024
Clouds Colliding With Clouds
One decade into their joint existence, American spaced-oriented duo go down to earth without losing sight of melodic microcosm.
To an extent, 2023’s "Shadows In A Jar" seemed to signify Earl Kayoss and Fernando Perdomo’s attempt to take stock of what their collaboration had been about, and that album certainly helped the pair of pals recalibrate their grasp on tuneful reality. Finally tightening into a self-sufficient two-player unit where guest musicians might only get in the way of their coast-to-coast link, the friends still mess with the listener’s mind by sprinkling Ziggy-stardust over a few of the tracks on offer here. Still, for the most part, any stylistic notions – which, in the past, fluctuated between glam and garage rock – are thrown to the wind, and weather-probing flights of fancy are given free rein now.
So it doesn’t matter whether you consider Earl’s Bowieisms on cuts like solemn, riff-driven opener “Magnet For Psychos” and the warmly glistening finale “Change Your Mind” a gimmick or part of the little ensemble’s identity – your focus will be elsewhere anyway. Ignoring such tremulous gems as “Jennifer, Your Light Is So Bright” and “Elephants Under Ground” – the latter an almost orchestral piece whence the album’s title emerged, and the former a folksy cut that’s also concerned with clouds – is simply impossible, even if they’re woven from a similar sonic cloth. Yet the psychedelic swirl behind “The Garden Wall” and the heavy stomp of “In My Blood” occupy a totally different plane of existence which Fern’s guitar figures pound in a relentlessly fascinating manner. And while “Voodoo Doll” finds Perdomo pay homage to Jimi, and the Americana backdrop of the piano-bolstered “Out Of Days” and the organ-lined “Like Magic” – as well as the acoustic strum of the spiritual “Horses” – are more typical of his approach to balladry, Earl’s dive into the exquisite sadness of “Tombstone Bound” and the glimmering delight of the Dylan-scented “In The Falling Rain” feel genuinely fresh.
But then, there’s the funky “Fuxamaddawityoucharlie?” to tie all the mood-threads together, and to spice the groove with Matt Tecu’s rapturous drumming, before “She Belongs To The Stars” takes the audience back to the Aladdin Sane orbit. It’s a God-awful small affair, and it’s riveting.
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