cloudboy - Down at the End of the Garden (20th Anniversary) (2023) Hi-Res

Dunedin dream pop originators cloudboy have announced a newly remastered vinyl and digital reissue of their 2001 album 'Down at the End of the Garden'.

Formed in 1995, Cloudboy is a creative tangent made up of culled members of the 90s electro-pop cult group Mink, who compose and create dream pop of stunningly beautiful originality and rich orchestration. playing. The core trio of Demarnia Lloyd, Craig Monk and Johannes Contag will also bring in guest specialists as needed. Demania sings, composes, sequences, samples, Johannes records, mixes, fixes guitars, flutes and synths, Craig arranges orchestras, plays guitar, violin and electric piano. Their carefully chosen line-up resulted in intimate and fragile vocals fused with electro-acoustic instruments, synthetic soundscapes and amplified rhythms.

"Cloudboy's primary aim was to frame Demarnia's songs and intimate vocals in a compelling, unusual and evocative way. One of our main instruments was the sampler, digital technology was just becoming available to poor student musicians, and the recording of this album was like being in a huge playground full of sonic possibilities. It was like.- Johannes Contag

Released on CD in April 2001 on Arclife and Loop, the band's first full-length release 'Down at the End of the Garden' is a concept album that evokes a Technicolor Netherworld of epic proportions. Recorded in Dunedin and Wellington from 1997 to 2001. Funded by Creative New Zealand, the album is an organic work of art that succeeds in the digital realm.

'Down at the End of the Garden' explores exotic instruments such as tabla, whistles and prayer bells, familiar instruments such as drums, bass, guitar and organ, and traditional instruments such as violin, double bass, flute, accordion and vibraphone. Throughout, Demania's songs are arranged and held together by cutting-edge soundscapes and crackling old sample loops.

"It's a very fulfilling album for me. Listening to the songs, the band's musicality really stands out, the layers, the complexity, the depth of the vocals (added by John and Jeff Mitchell), the world hidden within." You feel like you are there.” – Demarnia Lloyd