CLOUDLAND – ‘St Elmo’

CLOUDLAND are a four-piece rock band from Athens, Georgia, who grew up together sharing a passion for making music. Their new single, ‘St Elmo’, is out now, and is taken from their self-released album, ‘Where We Meet’, which is set to come out on July 2.

Their band name derives from Cloudland Canyon, one of the finest state parks in Georgia, and one which has many memories for the band, having spent time there camping and growing as friends. Comprising Zach King, Karmen Smith, Aidan Hill, and Hogan Heim, CLOUDLAND have been working together for over 4 years, and over that time they’ve continued to find inspiration in the things we can all relate to; indeed their upcoming album, ‘Where We Meet’, sees them tackle all those themes of commonality we humans share – love, fear, happiness, anger, and so on.

New single, ‘St Elmo’, with its jangly guitars and strident vocals calls to mind the Britpop sounds of the 1980s, and the title of course conjures up the film, ‘St Elmo’s Fire’. But this St Elmo is about a misunderstanding between friends/lovers. There’s an anger that builds up in one party that makes them just want to run run run far away from everyone and everything, but “Thank God you called me halfway to St. Elmo”.

We’ve already mentioned the 80s sound, which appeals a lot to this 80s chick, but in the last third of the track there’s a nice scratchy riff that catches me right in the feels. It’s The Smiths, it’s The Cure; it’s every one of those bands I grew up with and it’s taken me right back to where the most difficult things I faced in life were locating my black eyeliner and which pair of Doc Martens to wear.

You can find out more about CLOUDLAND online on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and their official website.

Stream ‘St Elmo’ below, and be sure to look out for ‘Where We Meet’ on July 2.

About the author

Lisa has been writing for over 20 years, starting as the entertainment editor on her university newspaper. Since then she's written for Popwrapped, Maximum Pop, Celebmix, and ListenOnRepeat.

Lisa loves all good music, with particular fondness for Jedward and David Bowie. She's interviewed Edward Grimes (Jedward), Kevin Godley, Trevor Horn, Paul Young, Peter Cox (Go West), Brendan B Brown (Wheatus), Bruce Foxton (The Jam), among many many more. Lisa is also available for freelance writing - please email lisa@essentiallypop.com

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