Album Stream: Cloudboy - Down at The End of The Garden (Music Month Special)

Stepping in a new direction again this week for our music month feature on great New Zealand albums, we have the dark ethereal pop of Cloudboy. Centered around Christchurch based musician Demarnia Lloyd, Cloudboy evolved out of a previous project called Mink in the late 90s and featured Johannes Contag from The Golden Awesome who produced the beautiful album we are streaming this week - Down at the End of the Garden.

A lush, scenic album throwing up vivid imagery akin to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Down at the End of the Garden was released in 2001 via Loop in the North Island and Arclife (imprint of the once vibrant Dunedin venue Arc Café) in the South Island and was the bands  first and only full length release. Taking four years to produce, it is an incredibly detailed release, dense with layers of instrumentation from electronic samples to strings and has an experimental element which, like Skeptics, has ensured the music remains interesting and timeless. 

Check out this excellent album all week below, and here are a few words from Jo and Demarnia, reflecting back on the band and album....

"The main aim of Cloudboy was to frame Demarnia's songs and intimate voice in compelling, unusual and evocative ways. Broadcast-quality home recording was still quite new then, and one of our main instruments was the sampler; digital technology had only just become affordable to poor student musicians. Recording the album was like being in a huge playground of sonic possibilities, putting together some really unique combinations to create the lushest soundscapes we could, and trying to avoid any established rock or dance styles." Johannes Contag

"It is to me a very full album, when I hear the songs the musicianship of the band really stands out to me, and the layers, complexities, the vocal depths (added by John and Jef mitchell) it feels like a world is hidden inside it." Demarnia Lloyd

THIS PREVIEW HAS EXPIRED.

Cloudboy also included: Craig Monk who now lives in the UK and works as Music Officer for the North-eastern counties, Heath Te Au who lives in Dunedin and plays with Heka, Chris O'connor who has been touring Europe with The Phoenix Foundation and John White (Mestar, Blueness) played violin while the band toured Europe in 2003 after which the band went onto new projects.