Cloud Control – in session for Lauren Laverne – BBC 6 Music – September 17, 2013 – BBC 6 Music –
Indie from Australia tonight by way of Cloud Control and a sadly short session from Lauren Laverne at BBC 6 Music in September of 2013.
Formed in 2007, Cloud Control are an award-winning indie rock band from the Blue Mountains, just outside of Sydney, Australia. With a dreamy sound blending elements of folk, psychedelic pop, and synth pop, the quartet, made up of Heidi and Ulrich Lenffer, Alister Wright, and Jeremy Kelshaw, made their debut in 2010 with Bliss Release. The album would go on to win the band the Australian Music Prize, as well as ARIA Award nominations. Their sophomore album, Dream Cave, arrived in 2013. In January 2015, the quartet became a trio when bassist Kelshaw announced he had left the group. The announcement came as Cloud Control were in the midst of a period of inactivity, but in May 2017 the group returned to duty with a single and video for “Rainbow City.”
Growing up in the Blue Mountains, the four members of Cloud Control met at the rehearsals for The Pirates of Penzance. They entered their first “Battle of the Bands”, which they subsequently won. They recorded and released their debut EP, Cloud Control, in November 2007. The single “Death Cloud”, was picked up by the Australian youth radio station Triple J and received strong airplay.
After a string of festival appearances and tours with a variety of Australian bands, the band released its first album, Bliss Release, in 2010. They recorded the album in the house of their producer, Liam Judson. Two singles were released from the album, “Gold Canary” and “There’s Nothing in the Water We Can’t Fight”. The latter appeared at number 18 in the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2010. The single “Gold Canary” was voted as Single of the Week in the Rebel Playlist on the UK’s BBC Radio 6 Music 2010.
The band supported Foo Fighters along with You Am I at their 2011 concert for flood relief in Brisbane, Queensland.
Their song “Just for Now” was used in the 2012 movie Magic Mike.
Their second album, Dream Cave, was released on 9 August 2013.
On 3 January 2015, the bass guitarist, Jeremy Kelshaw, announced his departure from the group on the band’s Facebook page.
The band’s fourth studio album, Zone was released on 1 September 2017. Their label said the album was written in a small beach house near the NSW regional centre of Forster and has been described as “profound, but also flippant, euphoric, but conceptual”. The album peaked at number 53 on the ARIA Charts.
The band has been largely inactive since 2018. Alister Wright has begun a new project, Vlossom, while Heidi Lenffer has pursued entrepreneurial work as the leader of FEAT.
If you missed them the first time, check this session out.
