Long Way Back From The Familiar Place We’ve Never Been To (Album 2023)

Mila Cloud

Dronegaze / Doomgaze / Cloudgaze

„Long Way Back From The Familiar Place We’ve Never Been To“. What an exciting title. Do we ever get familiar with a place? Hug trees and rock faces because we feel home? Or does everything feel alienated, like we are ghosts of ourselves in another sphere.

This title belongs to the new album of Mila Cloud. It is the successor of „Graylight“ from 2022. The cover art by Among Scratches shows a jointed doll arranged in patterns and is available as pretty DIY CD including a bonus track. Recorded at Silent Scream Studio, the mix was done at Burning Tones Studio. 

That the very first note makes think of Queen doesn’t really fit into the picture, as the distortion welcomes cracking solid like in „(Anesthesia) – Pulling Teeth“. While the the name of the song „Cloudgazer“ makes think of Shouting at Clouds, the main drive is a broad like Sunn O))) and Sam. The individual tunes merge seamlessly, linger on and fade away like „The Coldest Boy“, that brings up the „End Of Days“ soundtrack by Everlast „So Long“. 

The title track actually has a homey mood in it like The Devil’s Trade or Oddplay swinging slowley. The final „Dzielna Street Recovery Center“ is a beautiful mellow sound carpet. It refers to a street in the center of Poland’s capital which was part of Warsaw Ghetto. 

Despite this serious and pensive topic, the vibe is positive, ‚recovering‘, a smooth and comfortable closure after the solid opening. It seems like overcoming the alienating and feeling home again. Like in (horror) movies, when ghosts finally find a rest. The fear has gone, peace has come. 

Mila Cloud is a ghost and it looks like she finds her salvation a little bit more with every note, every chord, every distortion, every harmony, every sound. And even though we never been there, we feel familiar with this place – the power of music.