HERE at Backseat Mafia, being the old shoegazers that we are, we have an awful lot of love for Arizona’s Citrus Clouds, who know how a guitar can soar to heaven when caressed correctly.
That name? It’s for the majestic sunsets the band – bassist and singer Stacie Huttleston, singer-guitarist Erick Pineda and drummer Angelica Pedrego – get to rejoice in out there in the desert – as famously, of course, described by Rickie Lee Jones as sampled so adeptly on The Orb’s “Little Fluffy Little Clouds”.
We premiered the marvellous, early Slowdive-style rush of “A Pastel Sky” back in July, their paean to those selfsame big skies; check that wonderful nugget out.
They followed that beauty up last month with “Honey”, riffing out from a more Kim Dealesque bassline and heading into that sonic cathedral from there.
So just to make it a brilliant little triptych, they’ve just dropped the nicely self-descriptive “Whoa” which, along with the other two tracks, features on their forthcoming album, Collider.
Take a listen below; you’ll find a swooning guitar brilliance with high, keening riffing, some lovely fuzz, and a lot of rhythm power. They know how to knock out a glittering ‘gaze gem.
Guitarist Erick says: “This one is a little heavier, with some reversed guitars and a massive rhythm section.
“For Collider we wanted to expand our sound and evolve it. ‘Whoa’ was one of the first songs we wrote for the LP and kind of set the tone for the album. A fun one to play live.”
Citrus Clouds have a couple of albums under their belts, including 2016’s Imagination – there’s still a couple left on CD over at Bandcamp, where they’ve got other goodies on offer, such as previous delightful seven-tracker Ultra Sound.
Collider is in the can; the band is looking for a label to work with to make sure their new album gets the audience we and they think it deserves.
You can also find Citrus Clouds on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook – this trio is one to watch and embrace, socially distanced metaphorically.
