Moderate Rock

What Ben Sharp does should be studied in music colleges all over the world. Hell, it probably is. As Cloudkicker, he continues to work alone, he continues to write and record at an incredible rate, and he continues to do it while maintaining a near-peerless quality level. He doesn’t sit still either, pushing and pulling his sound in a bunch of different directions over the years. Across the six tracks of ‘Little Histories’ any change is perhaps more subtle than before, but it’s there, in some warm, more organic tones and leaner structures. Hell, some of this is almost straight-up rock music. Then, to perhaps the shock of some, there’s the introduction of vocals- Sharp’s distorted voice adds another layer to ‘Sky Guide’, an alien otherworldliness on top of its dreamy shoegaze swirl. Elsewhere, the dense and dramatic ‘Chameleon’ feels like concentrated Cloudkicker, and the gnarly, knotty, nod-inducing centre of ‘Digital Lightning’ is the perfect reminder that Sharp can shred when he wants to. Another lesson in excellence.