REVIEW: Porcelain Raft 'Strange Weekend'

Just in time for your lazy summer afternoon naps comes the debut album from PORCELAIN RAFT, Strange Weekend. A solo project from one Mauro Remiddi, Strange Weekend was recorded alone in a Brooklyn basement, and it retains that sense of intimacy. Vocals are indistinct and soaked in reverb, the synth and guitar lines merging into a narcoleptic haze.  It all conjures up lazy summer nostalgia like a faded Polaroid.

One thing the wash of sound can’t obscure, though, is the quality of the songwriting. Lead single ‘Put Me To Sleep’ underscores its plea with a hypnotic dance floor pulse, and the languid strum of ‘Shapeless & Gone’ almost becomes a ‘lighters in the air’ moment. ‘Unless You Speak From Your Heart’, meanwhile, evokes Beach House with its soaring vocal and classic pop sensibilities. It is this expertise in composition that separates PORCELAIN RAFT from dozens of other lo-fi bedroom projects.

Strange Weekend might be stuck in the basement, but it’s staring wistfully out the window towards the horizon.

Words by Matt Nielson

Watch 'Unless You Speak From Your Heart' video directed by Mauro Remiddi himself.

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