Codes In The Clouds - Paper Canyon Recycled


When Codes In The Clouds escaped obscurity in 2007, having signed to Erased Tapes, I was quick to write them off. Being a huge fan of instrumental music or dare I say it, post-rock, at the time I found myself at ease coining them as Explosions In The Sky-lite or perhaps This Will Destroy You Mk II, but this was perhaps just more my opinion as they seemed to gather more and more praise with their debut album 'Paper Canyon'. A year on, Codes In The Clouds are gearing up to release a new set of material upon our ears but before then, this, 'Paper Canyon Recycled', a collection of remixes by fans and fellow artists of tracks from their debut release.

Strangely enough for me, the first track, 'Don't Go Awash In This Digital Landscape' by Paul Mullen of Yourcodenameis:milo fame is completely mind blowing but then it is closer to a Yourcodenameis:milo track than one of Code In The Clouds, seething between beautiful bright guitar work before it explodes into guitar distortion and emotional howling, it is perhaps the one thing that Codes In The Clouds don't have that really sets this track apart from the rest on this album, vocals.The problem I have with the rest of the album is, that aside from the odd electronic element here and there, it's all quite obvious and predictable, infact, it could almost be as if that were the original song, un-touched. There is no doubt that this release is beautiful in parts(just listen to the final track 'The Distance Between Us' by Nils Frahm) and that it is well written also, but is this offering anything new from the debut release, no not really and is this offering anything new for instrumental music fans, once again, no not really. Maybe Codes In The Clouds should really have taken a leaf out of the Explosions In The Sky book, because the remix version of their album 'All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone' was something to really be inspired by. Please avoid this unless you are a massive fan.

2 / 5

Codes In The Clouds