cloudboy are, in no particular fixation:
demarnia, who writes the songs, sings them and sequences the samples; johannes, who records and mixes them and also plays various stringed and buttoned instruments; and craig, who is a multi-instrumental virtuoso (mostly guitar, violin and synth) and also writes and records beautiful arrangements.
indispensable throughout 2001, 2002 and 2003 have been chris o'connor on drums (also known for his work with sanctus and the ecstasy trio, as of 2006 also don macglashan) and john white on violin and backing vocals (also known for his work with sterling ex-dunedin bubble-grunge outfit mestar - check out their brilliant new album 'shut the squizwot factories down'!). special mention also goes out to double-bassist phil boniface as well as donna demente, jef t mitchell, and andy cummings (hummel) whose singing and performance art helped make the 2001 cd release tour the stunning series of events it was.
1995-2001:
cloudboy originated as a side project of supposedly-defunct dunedin electro-pop
con artists mink, and recorded a mini-album centered around the eponymous
title track 'cloudboy', presenting a more intimate, minimalist side of singer
demarnia's talent. a few singles were released in the following years, namely
picture disc 'little prince' and the flying-nun-released 'pet'. the follow-up
album was concocted between 1997 and 2001; the band decided to record and
produce completely autonomously and wouldn't accept any time/space limits.
the indulged their every production wish and, finally, the album was finished
in early 2001 to everyone's utter satisfaction. check out some of the tracks
on the audio page. (since the album has been released, it has also generated
some very tasty reviews.)
2003:
cloudboy does old europe
it took a year to get the troupe together for the long-awaited europe stint,
but by june 03, everybody had assembled in berlin. this eastern-most city
of western europe, more relaxed and afforable than most of its counterparts,
acted as a base for the tour. sojourns were made to scandinavia and the UK,
the czech republic and much of northern germany. a trimmed-down version of
the 2001/2002 NZ touring line-up, cloudboy in europe was a fully "live"
affair, by now having fully abandoned the electronic backing tapes of old
(an approach established by the NZ leg of the "shape of the land"
tour). more than ever, the music was integrated with a variety of visuals
(the group is forever indebted to the new zealand film archive), and on several
occasions, the various members' solo material was also presented by the group.
while modest in terms of turnout, european audiences were deeply appreciative
of the ever quieter sounds of cloudboy (well, aside from when the band played
support to a teen disco in a jazz club in göteborg), and of the thirty-odd
gigs played, a mere five were staged at conventional rock/pop/bar venues.
it will be interesting to see how (and where!) the group will present itself
next.