(((O))) Review: Porridge Radio – Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me

Now on their fourth album proper, after a series of self-released pieces early on, Brighton band Porridge Radio have developed into a really intriguing proposition within the quagmire that is current “indie” music. Standing apart from any potential peers, songwriter Dana Margolin’s poetic lyricism provide a sharp focus to the music that surrounds it.

Previously labelled “sacker”, that term feels redundant now, as on this album, Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me, they mature into a more complete version that was hiding in the shadows until their last album started to reveal their truer colours. Less bombastic and playful than before, each song plays out as a tonal poem, full of woozy melodies and surging crescendos that always seem to back of from full frontal rage. Dana’s lyrics accentuating the feeling of despondency and rage throughout.

Highlights are many with ‘Anybody’ setting its stall out with a stark vocal which builds to an almost dramatic climax of emotion unpackaged. ‘A Hole In The Ground’ settles into a familiar woozy melody, before ‘Lavender Raspberries’ ups the ante by throwing in chaotic drums against a haunted fairground Wurlitzer.

The middle section is more refined with ‘Sleeptalker’ and ‘You Will Come Home’ forming the emotional centre of the album. These are both preceded by the rather majestic ‘God Of Everything Else’. Each song a full of lyrical barbs and fantasies. Much darker than previous album Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky, it has a maturity to it which always felt missing. The simple melodies, such as on ‘I Get Lost’, bely a sophistication beneath. An album highlight is when a lone trumpet rises from nowhere, a feat repeated on the exemplary final song ‘Sick Of The Blues’. This final song providing a real sense of finality albeit also featuring as the first single release, perhaps showing a dark humour. That said, there is little here which could match it in the three minute format if we’re honest.

Dana may say she is sick of the blues, but the reality is she sounds anything but. The aforementioned trumpet bringing a sort of revelatory triumph to it all as a final rallying call. A moment of satisfaction, perhaps, from the band as they recognise that they may well be hitting a real seam of form. A dark, majestic album full of beautifully raging lyrics.