If you’re anything like me, your playlist and other collections of music are absolutely filled with both high energy and a very loud volume. But every now and then, I need a break. Even if it’s a small one, a slight reprieve from extreme metal can be just what I need to get through the day as having something to just sink myself into can sometimes be exactly what I need. Very few territories outside instrumental rock have provided such bliss for me, and Shadow Universe has created something that’s nothing less than blissful.

To come home and simply hit the play button and fall back into whatever we have played is a euphoria that I feel just about everyone can relate to. It’s our way of winding down after a day at work or whatever bullshit trials we may have gone through, and I, personally, like to venture into instrumental rock to help me close out a day, as I said. Thanks to bands like My Sleeping Karma and The Re-stoned I’ve found a great home in that delightful cove of music and Shadow Universe have only made it all the more beautiful with “Speaking for Clouds”. Seemingly taking a page from acts like Distant Dream and If These Trees Could Talk, Shadow Universe goes all out in their excursion of post-rock that also dabbles in ambiance to really make the nine tracks of “Speaking for Clouds” a flight straight through the sky into a world of beauty. The whole of this album takes us through plenty of light ambiances combined with impeccable post-rock mastery that has been somehow attained despite Shadow Universe having but one other record to their name that they put out a little over a year ago. Yet with “Speaking for Clouds”, Shadow Universe shows no less than pure mastery over how they deliver this brilliant atmosphere, a beautiful coordination from one song to the next, perfect narration without uttering a single word, and instrumentation that’s all but hypnotic to the very last drop of rain this band puts ever so eloquently.

This is far from a bombastic album but please do not mistake that as “Speaking for Clouds” lacking in character or heart, for that couldn’t be any more incorrect. Every moment of what Shadow Universe does here is filled with soul as this act dumps their hearts into every note to create a unique state of euphoria that only music like this can bring about. It’s truly music for the soul, and Shadow Universe plays off that at every turn to make “Speaking for Clouds” all but entrancing.

LISTEN to “Speaking for Clouds” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Shadow Universe on Facebook here.