Article For Double Page Spread (1st Draft)

2008, Alaskan Daydreams’ hit; ‘Monde stupéfiant’ dreamt about the spoils of cars, hunters, scientists, money, drugs and sex, and how they each displayed the disgusting world we live in today, it talked about what would be an amazing world. Written while the bands Ruby was still in college whilst band mate Taylor was suffering from depression, the two of their minds created the amazing number one hit which then topped the indie charts of America and UK. The success of that song and its assistant debut album; “Fallen Leaves” put that dream of peace on earth within their reach, they could get their points across, and just keep dreaming. The title of the follow-up is: “The Clouds Above Are Signalling” is due out mid-summer, “the title ties into exactly what I believe, the blackness of the clouds indicate dirt, suffering… let that be gone!” says Taylor Vanwenessy, who is currently nursing a dying bird. “Its like the world around us is being told, and not listening, congrats guys, hurry up and realize, money means nothing.”

And as such, Alaskan Daydreams are now poised to throw another spanner in the works, special guest Marko Dandicroft sums up The Clouds Above Are Signaling with: “No hits, no singles… nothing like the last album.” Indeed rather than an attempt to duplicate the formula of its predecessor (a chart topper), both claim that The Clouds Above Are Signalling steers far closer to the sound of their live show. This they assume may be an issue for some. “A lot of people came to our gigs assuming they were going to get electronic, freaky pop and were disappointed to see an acoustic band,” shrugs Ruby. “Then they heard the music we were playing and thought there was seriously something up with us.”

Legend has it that The Clouds Above Are Signalling has been a tester project from the very start. In November last year Alaskan Daydreams took their two-man band to one of their parents house’s in Canada, where they set up a small working space/studio and got cracking, their plan was to record everything live, but the group soon found their makeshift studio wasn’t up to the task as they only managed to write the lyrics for 4 songs. Ruby, at least got to indulge in an old hobby, surfing, their most recent songs have been described as having a surf rock kind of feel to them.

After finishing the songs, the influences became clear, as the title track is related to the early 80’s English rock band which state “Oh, There is a light that never goes out” this represents never giving up, Taylors deceased brother Romero had a high fascination for The Smiths/Morrissey therefore the band decided they would take a lot of inspiration from The Smiths to create some odd tracks for there upcoming album using their own experiences mixed with Morrissey’s experiences in the UK, this meant travelling. “Before we started traveling I never cared about my appearance,” admits Taylor. “But when your in Britain, people just shove it down your throat,” She pauses. “Look at me… I have a song about touring, a song about changing... This is going to be a terrible album.

Well who knows who the band will please, that’s not whet they are about but if they plan on winning the best album of the year award again they will need to up their game, more from the Alaskan Daydreams in next months issue, find out how their travelling went, and The Clouds Above Are Signalling is coming along.