Coloured Clocks
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Coloured Clocks

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | Established. Jan 01, 2011 | SELF

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | SELF
Established on Jan, 2011
Band Pop Psychedelic

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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"Introducing Coloured Clocks"

Coloured Clocks‘ Bandcamp tagline reads: “Psychedelic music recorded at home.” I like this. Psychedelia is basically about exploring the interiors of the mind, looking inwards rather than outwards, charting the strange shapes, sounds and thoughts that drift allusively on the other side of the door. And quite frankly if this can’t happen from the comforts of your home, then where can it happen?

The idea is then to communicate what you’ve experienced in a colourful new language, projecting these warped images onto the mundane canvas of the every day world. 26 year old James Wallace – aka Coloured Clocks – does just this with his album, Nectarine. Its heavily-textured pop explorations are all shimmer and half-light, reminiscent of a lo-fi MGMT or the Polyphonic Spree. Songs on Nectarine exist like shapes partially formed and floating free.

Take Maze for example. Fundamentally, it is a simple sun-kissed pop song. Basic chords are strummed out whilst a maraca shakes out a rhythm, recalling the earnest song-writing of 90s Britpop. But as it develops, these familiar forms become like a safety rope around your waist as you are lowered into increasingly murky depths. Once fully submerged, a powerful unexpected melody takes hold like an undertow and distorted vocals, chord changes and guitar solos wash over you amongst the aqua-marine swirls.

Coloured Clocks have a talent for the psychedelic. Unlike the aloof kookiness of Animal Collective, Wallace is altogether more humble, more grounded. He takes what you know and uses it to guide you through the looking glass. - Goldflake Paint


"Nectarine - Review"

The latest sepia hued perspective on music comes care of Coloured Clocks, or James Wallace to his mum.

This Melbourne lad is winding back time on his second LP Nectarine (pun intended) to the psychedelic sixties. The beauty of this is that it’s simultaneously retro and totally on trend.

Thanks to groups like Tame Impala and Pond who have weaned us on the genre and brought it back to massive popularity, this album, even during its most tripped out and incoherent moments, is very likeable.




There’s no way to get around the fact there are plenty of similarities to be drawn between Coloured Clocks and his peers – the heavy Beatles influence, the complicated song structures and guitars that sound like aeroplanes taking off.

Even his modus operandi is Kevin Parker style, i.e. he records solo but plays with a band.

However, rather than just imitate the aforementioned groups, which you may suspect upon first listen with his unmistakably Nick Allbrook-esque vocals, Wallace has incorporated features of other genres in order to stand apart.

For example, listen for elements of chillwave on tracks like “Uncovered Sun” or slacker rock on the the eleven minute epic “Icecream”, both of which perfectly compliment the languid characteristics of Wallace’s approach to psych.

There’s even of a few moments of nineties balladry (“Orion”) and vintage pop harmonies (“Maze”).

Mixed with the surreal lyrics, extreme reverb and keys typical of psychedelic music, Wallace has created a layered release that reveals itself gradually and is subsequently more endearing with each listen. - Tone Deaf


"Coloured Clocks - Nectarine Review"

Coloured Clocks = Tame Impala / Beach House

Coloured Clocks’ minimalist formula for psychedelia reflects Spacemen 3, as well as the space rock of Pink Floyd by offering the mellow kind of psych or “dream-drone” that closes out a long summer day or welcomes in a sunrise when you’ve been up all night with friends. CC’s heavy use of reverb and harmonies whisk me away into a world of nostalgia for movies about the ‘60s like Easy Rider and Dazed and Confused, reminding me to live life freely. Lyrically complex and slightly dark, the album also causes me to reflect on my current point of view on life itself. “Icecream” shines in this way, offering that introspection with no traces of 2013 in its otherworldly nature. “Life is just a hole in my soul and don’t be surprised if you never understand.” Simply put, Nectarine isn’t sad—it’s just full of meaning. –Justin Gallegos - SLUG Magazine


Discography

Zoo (2012)
Nectarine (2012)
All Is Round (2014)
Particle (2016)
Test Flight (201-)


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Bio

Psychedelic Pop Explorers!

Let Coloured Clocks take you on a journey through territories unknown!
Coloured Clocks can take you to the zoo, feed you a nectarine, make everything round, perform particle physics and take you on flight.

The airport is straight ahead!

Band Members