{"product_id":"melodys-echo-chamber-unclouded","title":"Melody's Echo Chamber - Unclouded","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003eAlbum of the Week: Melody's Echo Chamber – Unclouded\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003eStaff Review\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003eMelody’s Echo Chamber, the solo project of French musician Melody Prochet, first grabbed our attention (and likely many others) with her Kevin Parker produced self-titled album back in 2012. The psychedelic pop and rock of Melody’s Echo Chamber have remained a constant across Prochet’s subsequent releases, though adjacent psych-pop genres have increasingly been explored.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003eOn her new album, \u003cem\u003eUnclouded\u003c\/em\u003e, released this week via Domino Records, Prochet enlists producer Sven Wunder, leading to a collaboration that casts her work in a new light. Across this breezy, relatively brief record, Prochet and Wunder, with great brevity, distil a myriad of interests to conjure an elegant, timeless iteration of psychedelia. On that is lilting, drifting, and gently yet persistently swaying.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003eThroughout Unclouded, influences drawn from ’60s French pop, funk, jazz, shoegaze, Tropicalia, dream-pop, and ’90s chill-out coalesce into a cohesive, enveloping sonic world. Highlights are plentiful, including \u003cem\u003eEyes Closed\u003c\/em\u003e, where Prochet’s airy vocals glide over breakbeat rhythms, subtly phased guitars, and swirling synthesized textures. Elsewhere, the jazzy inflections of \u003cem\u003eChildhood Dream\u003c\/em\u003e, the longest track here at a mere 3:17, create an evocative, transportive passage. The twinkling keys, restless rhythms, and sublime woodwinds of \u003cem\u003eBurning Man\u003c\/em\u003e, along with the pensive, Krautrock-ish energy of \u003cem\u003eInto Shadows\u003c\/em\u003e, are similarly impressive cuts.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003eListeners will no doubt detect echoes of fellow retro-voyagers Broadcast’s early material, as well as the work of like-minded psychonaut Jane Weaver. Yet in many ways, the contemporaneous record \u003cem\u003eUnclouded \u003c\/em\u003eperhaps resembles the most is Clairo’s excellent \u003cem\u003eCharm\u003c\/em\u003e (2024), a connection made crystal clear when El Michels Affair appear on the shimmering album closer, \u003cem\u003eDaisy\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003eLike \u003cem\u003eCharm\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eUnclouded\u003c\/em\u003e demonstrates a deep appreciation for the warmth of what is presumably mostly vintage, analogue equipment. The instrumental choices and production techniques give the album a fluid, tactile quality that feels utterly timeless and classic.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003eRecommended for fans of Clairo, Aoife Nessa Frances, Serge Gainsbourg, Jane Weaver, Broadcast, Stereolab.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003eMelody’s Echo Chamber – Unclouded is out now on vinyl \u0026amp; CD\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eOn her fourth album, Unclouded, Melody’s Echo Chamber embarks on a life-affirming new chapter with an album that celebrates the present moment, whatever state we find ourselves in. There’s a continuity that runs through Melody’s Echo Chamber’s brand of psychedelic pop going back to 2012’s self-titled debut but now comes a perfectly executed shaking up of personnel.\u003cbr\u003eUnclouded’s impressive cast includes Swedish maestro Sven Wunder, who co-produced the record and contributed to the writing, bringing his unique sonic palette to the richly-textured canvas; Josefin Runsteen on strings, who brings her avant-garde smarts to the tableau; Dina Ögon’s Daniel Ögen on guitar and Love Orsan on bass who Melody describes as “masters of the velvet groove”; British drummer Malcolm Catto, collaborator with Madlib and DJ Shadow, and the powerhouse behind The Heliocentrics; and frequent collaborator Reine Fiske whose guitar parts can be heard throughout the record.\u003cbr\u003eLast but not least, Leon Michels - the Wu-Tang, The Carters, Norah Jones and Clairo collaborator - worked with Melody on the album’s closer “Daisy”, a sparkling pop song plucked from the ether. El Michels Affair’s Grammy-winning mixer Jens Jungkurth was drafted in to bring everything to life.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DOMINO","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":53206216966471,"sku":"TRI-66791","price":14.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition Indies Mint Green Vinyl","offer_id":53206218113351,"sku":"TRI-66792","price":29.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Standard Edition Black Vinyl","offer_id":53206219620679,"sku":"TRI-66793","price":27.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0931\/9779\/5655\/files\/d3311248e4097cb9aa1ef5eb8dfb9982.jpg?v=1769368690","url":"https:\/\/towerrecords.ie\/products\/melodys-echo-chamber-unclouded","provider":"Tower Records Dublin Ireland","version":"1.0","type":"link"}