CD: Porcelain Raft – Strange Weekend

Remember Primal Scream’s woozy “Higher Than the Sun”? It’s a fair bet Mauro Remiddi does. His debut album as Porcelain Raft drifts through 10 foggy songs as disconnected, yet warmly melodic, as that era-defining excursion through the ether.

Italian born and America-dwelling, Remiddi has been through a few musical incarnations. He’s played klezmer for the Berlin Youth Circus, was pianist for a New York tap-dance show and in the Sixties-ish band Sunny Day Sets Fire. Where he’s landed up is familiar, but still satisfying. As well as nodding towards the rave/indie crossover, he’s got the chillwave yen for shoegazing and The Beatles’ “Across the Universe”, investing the mix with a grandeur reminiscent of how M83’s Antony Gonzales reconfigures his sources.

Strange Weekend’s sure-footedness means the familiarity of Remiddi's inspirations doesn't matter. A tremulous wisp, his voice is best showcased on “The Way In”, the album’s closer. Finishing on such a relatively sparse, simply stated reflection sets what came before in context. Remiddi wants to affect. Instead of building to a chest-beating climax, the album is reined in. “Shapeless and Gone” could, if it were demisted, be an arm-waving anthem. “Backwords” takes baby steps towards Coldplay, but is subverted by ditching a layer-on-layer build up. Strange Weekend is crafted, and hints at where Remiddi might go in a live setting when subtlety might be sacrificed. But that’s a possible future. The winsome Strange Weekend will do for now.