Four years since his last full-length album, L.A.-based songwriter Mauro Remiddi — better known as Porcelain Raft — has evidently had time to branch out sonically on his new album Microclimate. The wide-ranging record stretches from hints of anthemic pop right through to orchestral music, but as a whole, it's something of a mixed bag.
Microclimate starts out in familiar territory with "The Earth Before Us" and "Distant Shore," the airy, ambient and ghostly electronic sounds ripped from the dream-pop playbook but given an edge by Remiddi's distinct voice. Then, the experimentation starts: "Big Sur" brings in guitars that straddle a strange line between folk and surf, but the attempt to inject a sense of earthiness comes off as cheesy.
"Rolling Over" and "Bring Me to the River" are far more successful in adding new instruments to Remiddi's palette — minimalistic piano in the former adds a neat sense of urgency, while the latter's string section, accompanied by beats, feels like a true stylistic innovation — but elsewhere, Remiddi seems to have issues with positivity; the tracks in major keys here fall flat. "The Poets Were Right," an out-of-place slow jam, is one example, made worse by its jarring transition from previous track "Accelerating Curse," a dark slice of neatly controlled chaos.
Microclimate evokes feelings of displacement that Remiddi has hinted at before; musically, there's a sense of geographic movement here, as he lyrically touches on natural and urban landscapes. Fittingly, given Remiddi's diverse international experiences (including but not limited to playing in North Korea) it's a traveller's record, but not one for the wide-eyed, "wanderlusting" tourist; rather, it's one for the detached and disoriented, Bill-Murray-in-Lost-in-Translation voyager. It hits this note strikingly, but it's a shame about the sonic mishmash.
(Volcanic Field)Microclimate starts out in familiar territory with "The Earth Before Us" and "Distant Shore," the airy, ambient and ghostly electronic sounds ripped from the dream-pop playbook but given an edge by Remiddi's distinct voice. Then, the experimentation starts: "Big Sur" brings in guitars that straddle a strange line between folk and surf, but the attempt to inject a sense of earthiness comes off as cheesy.
"Rolling Over" and "Bring Me to the River" are far more successful in adding new instruments to Remiddi's palette — minimalistic piano in the former adds a neat sense of urgency, while the latter's string section, accompanied by beats, feels like a true stylistic innovation — but elsewhere, Remiddi seems to have issues with positivity; the tracks in major keys here fall flat. "The Poets Were Right," an out-of-place slow jam, is one example, made worse by its jarring transition from previous track "Accelerating Curse," a dark slice of neatly controlled chaos.
Microclimate evokes feelings of displacement that Remiddi has hinted at before; musically, there's a sense of geographic movement here, as he lyrically touches on natural and urban landscapes. Fittingly, given Remiddi's diverse international experiences (including but not limited to playing in North Korea) it's a traveller's record, but not one for the wide-eyed, "wanderlusting" tourist; rather, it's one for the detached and disoriented, Bill-Murray-in-Lost-in-Translation voyager. It hits this note strikingly, but it's a shame about the sonic mishmash.