As The Spirit Wanes

Codes In The Clouds hail from Dartford, England – a town not known for much besides giving birth to The Rolling Stones. Their heartfelt music firmly places CITC as Ones To Watch in a growing instrumental rock scene. A perfect fit, then, for cinematic music label Erased Tapes, with writers such as Wyndham Wallace musing that the likes of Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds and Berlin pianist Nils Frahm sit comfortably alongside the rowdy post-rock of Codes In The Clouds.

Codes In The Clouds weave guitar melodies with an alluring and versatile combination of qualities: melancholic yet uplifting; polished yet unhinged; delicate yet powerful. Through relentless touring and determination this young band have steadily gained recognition since signing to Erased Tapes in 2007.

A call for remixes led to Paper Canyon Recycled, released a year later. Featuring the likes of Paul Mullen (The Automatic), Maybeshewill, Worriedaboutsatan, Machinefabriek and Library Tapes – not to mention label mates Rival Consoles and Nils Frahm – the project gave fans and fellow artists an opportunity to craft remixes of songs from CITC's debut LP. The band received over 100 track submissions and every remix album sold continues to help Friends of the Earth.

Brighton-based producer and musician Guy Andrews (iambic), impressed the band so much that they invited him to work on their much-anticipated second studio album. Recorded in just six days at Brighton Electric, As The Spirit Wanes was released in the UK in January, 2011. Whilst 2010 may have looked rosy for Codes In The Clouds: a remix album release; successful tours; festival slots, it was also a difficult year behind the scenes. Nevertheless, personal loss proved a collective driving force, bringing the band closer as a group and shaping their surprisingly optimistic second offering:

It’s not that the album has a set concept or theme, it’s just that each member of the band went through similar experiences around the same sort of time. So naturally, this is reflected in the album. We all feel really close to it, and it’s definitely the music we want to make. It’s a very personal record to us ... definitely a better reflection of us as a collective of people. Hopefully others will identify with the ideas within the record and can relate it to their own experiences.

Co-produced by Erased Tapes initiator Robert Raths and label-mate Ryan West (Rival Consoles), mastered by Nils Frahm at his studio in Berlin, As The Spirit Wanes could almost be described as a family affair. Even the artwork has been inspired by the band’s time in Iceland (performing as part of the Erased Tapes label night at Iceland Airwaves 2010). Most importantly, it’s all about songs, offering the listener stunning melodies and razor-sharp hooks. From the Beach Boys pop appeal of Look Back, Look Up, to the euphoric Washington, back down to the emotionally charged two-minute hymn If I’d Have Known This Was The Last, Codes In The Clouds embody their genre in its most rewarding form.