Majical Cloudz
Are You Alone?
MATADOR
8/10
On Are You Alone? Majical Cloudz don’t make any giant sonic jumps, but they successfully explore more ways to make Matthew Otto’s electronic throb-and-buzz beds hold Devon Welsh’s vocals and melodies in sympathetic, generous ways. With this, their sophomore LP about the shaky realities surrounding real love, the co-conspirators have delivered one of 2015’s most honest and moving albums. Lyrically, Welsh explores the doubts and fears that crawl in anytime we open our hearts and lives to anyone—be they family, friend, or partner—with a vulnerability that’s completely comfortable with sounding courageous and unsure in the same baritone breath. From the majestic yet humble beauty of the album’s centerpiece, “Silver Car Crash” (which manages to take the fatalistic romance of “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” and turn it into something new and shiny and still true), to the self-aware cinematic imagery of closing number “Call On Me” (“I remember how it ends / We survive / And the audience sighs”), the humans behind Majical Cloudz have given us something simple and stunning that shines with hope for our loved ones and ourselves.
