Northwestern Indiana-based space rock outfit Cloakroom — currently Doyle Martin (vocals, guitar), Bobby Markos (bass) and newest member Tim Remis (drums) — formed back in 2012. And since their formation, the Indiana-based outfit have released an EP and two full-lengths: 2013’s Infinity EP, 2015’s Further Out and 2017’s Time Well.
The band’s third album Dissolution Wave is slated for a January 28, 2022 release through Relapse Records. The album’s material tells the story of a universe created by the band’s Doyle Martin as a way of processing the events of the past couple of years. “We lost a couple of close friends over the course of writing this record,” he says. “Dreaming up another world felt easier to digest than the real nitty-gritty we’re immersed in every day.”
Within the space western of the album, an act of theoretical physics — the dissolution wave — wishes out all of humanity’s existing art and abstract though. In order to keep the world spinning on its axis, songwriters must fill the ether with their compositions. But the Spire and Ward of Song act as a filter for all human imagination: Only the best material can pass through the filter and keep the world turning.
With lyrics based on a detailed, imagined cosmology Dissolution Wave marks several different things for the band: Their third album will be released as the band marks their tenth anniversary as a band. The album is the first batch of recorded output with Tim Remis, who joined the band back in 2019. And importantly, the album, which was recorded at Tolono, IL-based Earth Analog reportedly sees the band expanding upon their dynamic space rock palette: the material features loops and piano by HUM‘s Matt Talbott and exterior percussion by Sweet Cobra‘s Jason Gagovski.
“Fear of Being Fixed” is a slow-burning and forceful dirge centered around sludgy power chords, thunderous drumming, chugging bass lines paired with Martin’s plaintive falsetto floating over the mix. And while sonically bringing Spelljammer to mind, the song feels haunted by profound loss and uncertainty.
Directed by Colorshift, Vin Romero and Julius Jiminez, the recently released video for “Fear of Being Fixed” features the members of Cloakroom performing the song in a studio and shot on grainy, and over processed VHS tape — to mind-bending effect.
