Philippe Deschamps - Remember the Clouds

 

Released: February 14

A soft and wistful album, Remember the Clouds is a bit surprising in the fact that virtually everything you hear on the album is made entirely with an electric guitar plugged into a few judiciously utilized pedals and a small touch of synthesized bass. When I first listened to it, I assumed that most of it was comprised of soft ambient pads. But no, almost all of that soft airiness you hear is made up entirely of a guitar running through layers of reverb and delay to make purely ethereal soundscapes. 

Now there are a few parts in which the guitar becomes obvious, particularly around the end of “Confident Wings.” We hear nothing but long  and lush atmospheres for much of the track but right around the end we hear those small and clearly plucked noted that shuffle around through their attached delay. There’s also a little touch of something similar in the beginning of “Cloud Waves” and around the middle of the final track, “Cosmos and Clouds.” While these neat little magical moment are fleeting, they feel a bit like punctuation marks on the otherwise vast, lush, and pacifying soundscapes. They give the fine detail to these ambient pieces as little points of contrast, much like the wispy clouds in a pale blue sky. It’s a rather short EP, but one that you can feel even after the last serene note.