Wait & See is a surprise new release from Canadian duo Majical Cloudz. The five-track EP features songs that didn’t make their latest album, Are You Alone? It’s the kind of thing that avid fans will devour and dissect, precious offerings despite their status as offcuts. As noted by vocalist Devon Welsh, although these five tracks didn’t fit the album, “there is a feeling that links them all together.”
Each track features Matthew Otto’s signature sparse production with Welsh’s gliding vocals. Welsh’s vocals lead the surrounding melody of the title track and opener. There is a confronting sincerity to Let Me Lie, with Welsh singing “I don’t need you / I don’t know / I am losing my mind.” The song includes the softest of beats to match the pulses of synths. It finishes peacefully, melding into the lighter washes of Pretty.
With Welsh’s vocals forming such an essential a component of the music, one has to make a conscious attempt to hear their lyrics whilst listening. Across Wait & See, Welsh addresses another subject in relation to himself; the words “you”, “I” and “we” come up regularly. While the action concerns characters separate to oneself, the emotive quality of Welsh’s voice makes you think of yourself. There’s a darkness to his words in My Heart Soaks Up Every Drop Of Your Blood, but in contrast to the somewhat graphic title, the songs finishes the EP on a note of hope.
The common emotive thread to Wait & See makes the collection of tracks feel more complete than the term “leftovers” would suggest. It stands independently of Majical Cloudz’ other work, with a subtle breadth that lets each song breathe as its own.
BY ANGELA CHRISTIAN-WILKES
