This Is Our Jam: Majical Cloudz, “What That Was”

Usually when you think of slow-burning bar ballads, bands like The Walkmen or Silver Jews come to mind — acts where hollow-body guitars relay the sounds' nostalgia and disenchantment, and the closest thing to a keyboard is a baby grand piano. Majical Cloudz (a.k.a. Devon Welsh) is a Montreal artist who runs in the same circle as Grimes (he was featured on her track "Nightmusic"), but manages to merge his avant-pop and synth obsessions with the sounds of moldering watering holes and wistful folk.

With "What That Was," Welsh's deep voice recounts anything-could-happen nights on the town. "I didn’t think about it until now but I’ll be gone for a small time," he laments to an old friend. If The National dug up some Suicide records and went to town, it would probably sounds something like this.

Majical Cloudz—Turns Turns Turns EP "What That Was"