Gift Horse. Cloud Cafe

Early spring last year Cloud Cafe made its debut on this blog with its eponymous EP. It was received quite well at the time, including being called a promise for the future. That future is now here with debut album Gift Horse. Based on what I've just read in my previous review, the band delivers on that promise.

Gift Horse is an album that can be shelved in the indie rock segment, moving towards the alternative rock one. Cloud Cafe manoeuvres itself somewhere in between the two. The campfire song underneath it all, is a little less present today, as the band clearly chose for rock and not folk. In fact, my guess is that the band members are fans of alternative rockers from New Zealand like The Beths, Vera Ellen, Aldous Harding, etc. I base that on the twists most songs have and the way Tara Wilts sings. A little less Adrianne Lenker is not the only reason Big Thief disappears around the corner. Cloud Cafe rocks harder in 2024.

Cloud Cafe is from Amsterdam and besides Wilts consists of David Coehoorn (guitar), Tom Radsma (bass) eand Dirck Kroes (drums). The band formed in 2020 and recently released its first full length album. Along the way the band started to play louder and even wilder songs. This is very noticeable in the way Gift Horse opens. 'Honey' is an alternative rock song that falls into the New Zealand category I already mentioned. As an opener I just love the song. Cloud Cafe shows what it is capable of, with a good rhythm and some inventive guitar playing (enter The Beths) in the solo. 'Honey' is the kind of song that grabs your attention immediately and tells you to start paying attention. It pays off, I assure you.

Promo photo

Gift Horse is a very varied album. Let me lift out two other songs. 'Completely Here' is a pretty wild song. It opens with a huge intro riff and a rhythm section that really goes for it. For the verse things are toned down on the guitar, giving the song breathing space. This allows Tara Wilts to sing with her soft, breathy voice without having to exert herself. She reminds me here of the singer of Dakota, from before the band became Loupe. 'Completely Here' will most likely be a successful song to grab an audience's attention. On the other hand there is a dark song called 'Trash Blanket'. There's not a lot of daylight allowed in here and shows a totally different side of Cloud Cafe.

The rest of the album hovers between the first song and these two outer edges. Indie rock, at times even a little jangly, where the song is more prominent and alternative rock where the music is more prominent, are the two main flavours with which Cloud Cafe sets a new step in its career. OK, I will allow a little shoegaze as well ('I Don't Mind'). No, heaven and earth are not moved but Gift Horse is truly delivering on the promise made by the EP. An album very much worthwhile checking out.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

You can order the album here:

https://excelsior-recordings.com/products/cloud-cafe-gift-horse

You can order the EP here:

https://cloud-cafe.bandcamp.com/album/cloud-cafe

Gift Horse is a varied album, as it does not always rock this hard, and is not as dark as the final song