Okay, so it may not be metal this time round, but Ben Sharp’s Cloudkicker project always, always delivers. The first of a double release, Let Yourself Be Huge is a laid back, proggy affair, with the jingly, folk-like acoustic opener Welcome Back setting things up for the multilayered Explore, Be Curious that gradually unfolds, with little, fuzzy guitar leads and loops casually sauntering in as time goes by, and the little filter and sudden break near the end, as if a radio had broken, was a nice little surprise. Nice is probably the most suitable word for this album to be honest. The Word Water reprises the acoustic sections of the first track, though the heavily effected drums didn’t sit too well with me, could have done with some alternate percussion instead that would have fit around the guitars a lot better before the drums come in properly.

Things shift gear with You and Yours, because distortion! Well, more fuzz really, but it’s a shift from the clean cut sound of the last three tracks. It eventually drifts off though. It’s odd, it starts and then poof, gone before you know it. It doesn’t develop as fully as the others and it shows. The acoustic interlude One, Many is pretty nifty, and sets up the almost country/Southern rock intro to It’s Inside Me, I’m Inside It. As with the other longer tracks, it’s a gradual build and evolution, layers swinging in and out, but it’s a (mostly) acoustic track this time around. This Isn’t is another wee track and you can read what I’ve said about the rest to get the picture. It’s the title track that is probably the most interesting thing here, as it’s the band’s first foray into using vocals. They’re fairly spacey and airy and hit all the post-rock notes, but don’t really detract from anything.

This is a bit of an odd one really. There’s only so many times you can say “Oh, it sounds nice” regardless of it being true. Let Yourself Be Huge is formulaic, which is unfortunate. It’s easy listening, but it can drag at times despite it being a fairly solid effort, and the songs seem aimless. Not his best work, but with a back catalogue like Cloudkicker’s that’s hardly a criticism.