I did not expect your reaction to Cloud Collapse

Thanks! Yeah I did so much rock in my younger days I guess I kind of moved on for a while!

Andrew Huang

“Make the stuff you wanna make even if you think other people are not gonna like it.” Yes! Wholeheartedly! It’s an important lesson that we need to keep repeating ourselves, especially if your creative endeavour is tied to your identity. It’s probably true that (Prog) Rock fits more, in context. It might be the right kind of complexity for your audience, which presumably skews towards people who have more than a surface level understanding of music. There’s something to be said about nostalgia, in this song. Or a “retro” character. Which makes the song tap into the brains of people who’ve heard such music in the past and could be ear-opening for those who haven’t. It’s the right mix of familiarity and uniqueness. Specifically, your synthing is reminiscent of much which came in the past without being overplayed. The solos really sound like Steve Winwood in sound, technique (bending), and even melodic structure. The through-composed aspect brings narrativity to the song. In previous cases, that might not have worked as well. Because context. There were instances like that in your (in)famous series faking space travel. In that case, it might have been less striking because a story was unfolding on the screen, anyway. In terms of your singing, it’s unclear what made people react differently. Maybe those who have an issue with it didn’t listen to this song or neglected to leave a comment. Maybe the heavy processing on your voice was enough to satisfy people’s need. Maybe you’ve improved your singing. Personally, I feel there’s some of that involved. Your singing recently has felt more visceral, to me (even the dry signal). I’d say the same about Sonic Boom. It’s like you found your medium.

Alexandre Enkerli

I really liked cloud collapse! Rarely do we see rock from you outside of FOO and Sonic Boom so this was a lovely treat. Love hearing such creative tracks from you Andrew!