Cloud Over Jupiter – They’re Here with Us
I found another great band, with music to enjoy. Its name is cool; Cloud Over Jupiter, and their new album They’re Here with Us, was released at the end of 2020, on December 21, 2020.
This is the band’s fourth album. As they say, “Continuing the intergalactic journey that began on the moons of Jupiter and traversed beyond the Oort Cloud into the cold depths of space”.
The band is made up of: Michele King, on vocals, piano, clarinet, and she provides songwriting; Jerry King, plays guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, synthesizer, and provides songwriting; Chad Wardwell, plays batterie and treatments; and Bill Jungwirth, plays drums.
They have multiple collaborators helping them on They’re Here with Us, including: Bret Harold Hart, on guitar and ebow; Dave Newhouse, on flute, horns, keyboards, and contributing lyrics on “Seven Tides”; Pete Prown, plays guitar and mellotron; Paul Sears, contributes batterie; Greg Segal, plays guitar; Ian Beabout, plays flute; Walter Whitney, plays synthesizer; Jamie Bruhn, plays bass; Mark Larson, plays keyboards; Robert Vicente, plays acoustic guitar; Steve Berndt, plays bass; and Gonzalo Fuentes, plays acoustic guitar.
The opener, “Psalm”, is the best song on the album. It opens with a cool electric guitar riff, not unlike Yes’ Steve Howe, along with great soft drums, bass, and acoustic guitar. Michele King soon joins in, “Read the writing on the wall. As the sands of time fuse into clay. Head apocalyptic call. Where life diversity will cease to end. What then is good? Tell me how should it be defined. I’m anxious to discuss the process of being kind”. The groove that follows is fluid and full of thump. They add flute to perfectly take this one over the top. Ian Anderson would be proud. The cool pause, then assault by flute is magnificent. Off to a great start.
“Helium Histrionics”, is a very cool, spacey, synthesizer extravaganza. Close your eyes and imagine orbiting Jupiter.
“It’s for You”, opens with piano and Michelle King singing. Cold, empty space piano. Later, it turns into a cool instrumental full of all sorts of keyboard and guitar improvisations.
“Alien Pharaohs, They’re Here with Us”, opens with very cool spacey synthesizers and keyboards. Try listening to this in the darkness of space. Or outside at night after a brutal winter snowstorm. Then Michelle King sings, “Psychedelic allies spin. In the sky at night”. Sounding a little like early B-52s. She continues, with flute surrounding, “What if God came here to see, what we’ve done to Mother Earth?” Good question. The flute and bass combination is exemplary. Then, the song takes a heavier tone, with Michelle singing, “They’re her with us”. Very nice, indeed.
“Callisto”, is a very cool guitar instrumental.
The rest of the album is full of cool spacey sounds, synthesizers galore, and some of the best keyboards this side of Europa. We don’t know yet what it would be like orbiting Jupiter, but I’d be willing to bring this CD with me as a soundtrack.
The album art design and graphics were created by Eric Kearns with PhinBot Graphics. Jupiter Image on the cover, is courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Photography by Michele King and Jerry King. Produced by Jerry King and Chad Wardwell. Mixed and mastered by Chad Wardwell. All songs arranged by King and Wardwell. All compositions by Jerry King (except as noted per credits).
Track List
- Psalm – 7:10
- Helium Histrionics – 3:45
- It’s for You – 8:11
- Pinnacle Valley – 1:56
- Alien Pharaohs They’re Here with Us – 6:50
- Jupiter Dream – 4:20
- Phantoms – 5:15
- Callisto – 1:30
- Twilight and Blue – 4:43
- Seven Tides – 3:10
- Black 46 The Return – 1:31
https://cloudoverjupiter.bandcamp.com/album/theyre-here-with-us-not-for-us
https://www.facebook.com/CloudOverJupiter/
Thanks so much for the kind words in this review. Much appreciated.