Cloud Boat shares new single “Hallow”

British duo Cloud Boat will release their second album Model Of You Stateside on the 15th of July 2014, through Apollo Records.

London born and bred Sam Ricketts and Tom Clarke begun as part of the generation for whom electronic production and songwriting were no longer separate worlds, like their childhood friend James Blake, apart from Sam and Tom were proud teenage metal fans.

One listen to Model of You tells you that Cloud Boat are not the band they were 12 months ago. Richer, heavier, more adventurous, this is an emotional record that finds Tom and Sam untethering themselves from their past and sailing into deeper waters. The man charged with helping Cloud Boat navigate this new course was Andy Savours, the English producer who’d worked with a number of the pair’s favorite bands such as My Bloody Valentine, Sigur Rós and The Horrors. The three recorded in four London studios, including Crouch End’s The Crypt, part of the same church complex recently acquired by Paul Epworth, and formerly owned by Dave Stewart.

On tour in Europe earlier this year, Cloud Boat’s Sam Ricketts and Tom Clarke headed to a tattoo parlour in Berlin with their live guitarist Andres Perea to each get the same tattoo. The image, a simple hand-drawn illustration depicting the band’s name, was taken from a poster promoting a Cloud Boat show at Hamburg’s famous Golden Pudel club, one of their favorite venues.

For Tom, who is covered in tattoos, and Sam, who had none, the marking came to symbolize the pair’s commitment to their band and to celebrate all they’d achieved over the last 12 months. More than that, though, the tattoo was literally a sign of confidence: deep down, they knew they’d just made an excellent second album.

“It’s bold, bigger, and more ambitious,” says Sam of Model of You, “If our first album was dark and a little weird, then this one feels more optimistic and expansive.”

Cloud Boat