Every Cloud…
Every Cloud…
Known for his atmospheric “post-something” creations, VLMV mastermind Pete Lambrou found inspiration in an unexpected source for his latest album, There Will Come Soft Rains. He tells Prog about the wartime poem that informed the concept, his journey into the world of Dolby Atmos, and his dream musical collaborator.
Words: Jeremy Allen
VLMV Pete Lambrou: always looking forward.
Images: Paris Grace
“I was consciously trying to turn them into songs this time instead of just ambient pieces because I wanted to set a challenge to myself that I could have vocals on as much of the work as possible.”
V LMV’s latest album offers hope in the dystopian bleakness, like a flower sprouting through the scorched earth of a post-apocalyptic landscape. There Will Come Soft Rains started out as a poem where the poet Sara Teasdale fantasises about a planet devoid of humans. Its publication in 1918 coincided with the German military’s spring offensive as well as the outbreak of an influenza epidemic that would go on to kill an estimated 50 million people worldwide. Teasdale wrote of frogs singing in their pools at night and robins wearing their feathery fire: ‘No one would mind/Neither bird nor tree/If mankind perished utterly.’ It’s powerful stuff.