Prior to releasing the first single from his debut LP as Spirit Was, there wasn’t much indication of what a Nick Corbo solo project would look like beyond the ambient drone record he released a while back and a loose single which clings significantly closer to the LVL UP discography he contributed to as one of the band’s core members. In a way, I guess, “I Saw the Wheel” split the difference between these two disparate corners of Corbo’s musical interests, recalling a slightly more rustic take on his previous band’s sound before making a jarring transition into a reverent take on one of drone’s sister genres, black metal. You can certainly hear the distinct sounds of both locations the album came together in between the Nashvillian twang and the doom of Wolves in the Throne Room’s native Olympia, Washington.
In lieu of re-negotiating this balance, the third single from Heaven’s Just a Cloud feels like a grungy take on a skygazing Americana band. The track’s earthen guitar tones recall those of Pile or Bad History Month before a brief guitar solo—and exactly one Lynch-soundtrack guitar twang—carry it up into the stratosphere. The song is “mostly about daydreaming,” Corbo confirms, permitting us a pass for over-analyzing the track’s lyrics, which open by addressing oblivion.
Hear the track below, and pre-order Heaven’s Just a Cloud here.
