Now a three-piece, Cloud Control announce new album ZONE: “It’s a new entity”

Australian psych-pop stars Cloud Control have announced their third album, ZONE, this morning, and an “(almost) title track” to go with it. ‘Zone (This Is How It Feels)’ is out tomorrow, following up the tantalising, shimmering lead single ‘Rainbow City’ with a sound that encapsulates the band in 2017. Like the rest of the album, it was produced by guitarist and co-frontman Alister Wright.

And they’re a very different beast to the band that released sophomore album Dream Cave, let alone the AMP-winning modern classic Bliss Release. Now a three-piece after former bassist Jeremy Kelshaw “returned to civilian life” in 2015, Cloud Control played a couple of small, sold-out shows in June that showcase how their slimmed-down personnel list has led to a stunningly muscular new sound. Alister Wright and siblings Ulrich and Heidi Lenffer seemed to be making more noise than ever, with a rich layer of guitar fuzz on everything and a huge sense of joy at their return to the stage. Wright’s beam and the crowd’s roars said it all: Cloud Control are well and truly back.

TMN caught up with Heidi the week before those shows to hear about the road between winning the Australian Music Prize for their debut, the beautifully jumbled three-year creative process of ZONE, and remaking themselves as a unit.

First things first: what have you all been up to in the time between Dream Cave and now?

I know it’s customary to answer this question with a list of work-oriented activities and I could rattle these off–between us being teaching, social enterprise, pastry-making and chef work – but the more interesting point is that in the context of us relocating back to Sydney and Jeremy leaving, we’ve been learning to work together and make music again.

We’ve moved the studio six times and lived in a beach shack near Forster for 6 months, our old headmaster’s house at our high school, the Arthur Boyd writer’s retreat in Bundanon, and various inner city studio digs.

What effect did the AMP win have on you as a band? Did you feel there was a lot of pressure on Dream Cave to be a certain kind of follow-up?

Practically it put some much needed money in the pouch. Symbolically it was a beautiful recognition for Bliss Release and we’re really proud that so many people chose to honour that record in this way.

Prizes are important –we should be demanding that people pay attention to what is being created by artists at home. But writing music that feels good and honest and that everyone in the band connects with is the only brief we can work towards. This is mission enough and demands a lot from a person and a group, so the AMP is not a relevant muse in this process.

Would you recommend moving OS for a while to early-career bands or artists trying to build overseas profiles, as you did?

Sure, if you have the means, relocating and taking root in a new city is always great for upending the comfort zone. But you can’t do it looking back over your shoulder.

We didn’t know if we would return when we moved to London in 2012. We were fortunate that Infectious Records took a chance on us and helped us tour Europe in a way that wouldn’t have been feasible off our own back. They noticed us because we’d been working hard on the gig circuit at home. So basically, you’ve just gotta keep doing your thing, working hard and get on a plane if someone invites you to keep doing your thing someplace else.But read the fine-print, always.

You also don’t need to wait for an invitation. It all depends on how driven you want to be. We were never a world expansionist band – but if you’re the band trying to build overseas profiles then call a band meeting, check that everyone is on the same page, and make a plan to do this otherwise the spark will be snuffed.

“People need to remember the spark is responsive to external factors, you can feed it or snuff it. I wish more bands were encouraged to check the vital signs of their collective dream more regularly. When we did it, it gave clarity to the vision.”

How long has the album taken to come together? Have these songs been accumulated gradually over the past few years, or was there a burst of creativity?

The album came together over 3 years. Sporadic writing bursts, solo efforts, agonising re-writes, collective jams, duo jams, all-nighter mix sessions, flippant recording and sometimes like Serious Professionals, getting mates to ad-lib and one time record a full-length drum track over the entire album, bringing in producers for a crack, invention of recording techniques, and RE-recording. Not a word, I know, but definitely a concept.

Songs were refined often without knowing it and only recognised as DONE once several months of experimentation permitted the return to an earlier version.

I think Al’s learning curve as a producer was both helped and hindered by the decision to buy a studio set-up because the freedom permitted endless reinvention, and this became a problem as much as it as it became the new album we now love and have in our hands.

How’s the dynamic now that you’re a three-piece?

Someone told us that when a 4-member group becomes 3, this removes so substantial a chunk of the percentage make-up of the team that you are left with a new entity. This feels about right.

Catch Cloud Control on tour in September. Tickets are on sale tomorrow.

Friday 22 Sep – The Metro, Sydney

Sat 23 Sep – The Triffid, Brisbane

Thu 28 Sep – The Croxton, Melbourne

Fri 29Sep – The Gov, Adelaide

Sun 1 Oct – Badlands, Perth