Album Review: Porcelain Raft - Strange Weekend

Porcelain Raft - Strange Weekend (2012, Secretly Canadian)

Spotify

Mog

-by Justin

Sometimes it’s hard to describe an artist. With Mauro Remiddi’s Porcelain Raft, it becomes almost impossible. While Strange Weekend has a basis in electronic music, there is influences all over the map. Finally, I read Secretly Canadian’s press release on the album, where they state that:

Remiddi’s androgynous vapor of a voice weaves like a ghost between Nick Gilder and The Alessi Brothers, Julee Cruise and Judee Sill. In more contemporary terms, Porcelain Raft stands confidently on a high hill between the sounds of M83 and Beach House.

That works well enough for me. He at times reminds of the best of those bands as well as a quality conduit for bands like Air and Phantogram. Just because his music is hard to define does not deter from what is a very enjoyable debut album filled with addicting electro-pop.

The album begins with the hazy opener “Drifting In and Out”. It’s a near perfect intro song that stays upbeat but doesn’t overpower your senses right as you begin the album. Something that you soon find out about Strange Weekend is that it’s sonic construction is very subtle. It can be hard to pick up on everything that’s going on from song to song because Remiddi has subdued many of these sounds where they are almost muted, and it is on the best songs on Strange Weekend where he allows them to breathe a little. “Shapeless & Gone” is a good example of this, where the music has a life of it’s own. Another big selling point to Strange Weekend is Remiddi’s vocals, which seem to shift and change on every song. This breathes new life into track after track and keeps you listening.

This isn’t to say that everything is perfect on Strange Weekend. On a song like “Is It Too Deep For You?” for instance, there is the workings of a great song but it never comes together into a fully formed idea. The slower songs on the album such as “Backwords” are enjoyable, but when you take into considering the panache of the more upbeat songs on the album, they end up feeling like a slight letdown.

Once you hit the improbable “Unless You Speak From The Heart” (How is that him doing vocals on this track?!), you’ve probably come to the realization that this is an excellent album. While Remiddi doesn’t necessarily blow you away with a  brand new sound, he brings to the table a sound that while familiar, has his own distinct mark on it. For some bands, the influences that they incorporate into their music crush them under expectation and nostalgia. Here, Remiddi has managed to juggle these influences, and shift their weight enough to the point that he has mastered the danger. It’s an album that begs for multiple listens, and you will discover new things each time you come back.

8.4/10

Songs I Starred On Spotify:

• Drifting In And Out
• Shapeless & Gone
• Is It Too Deep For You?
• Put Me To Sleep
• Unless You Speak From The Heart
• Picture