Instrumental post‑metal visionary Cloudkicker — the long-running solo project of Ben Sharp — has resurfaced with two new tracks, “Things You Can’t Change” and “Follow Through”. The songs arrive as part of a newly launched record, also titled Things You Can’t Change, which Sharp describes as a fluid, evolving release.
“I make no guarantees about how often this will be updated or how many tracks it will have when complete,” Sharp notes, hinting that the project will grow organically over time rather than follow a traditional album rollout. Get it here.
Cloudkicker has been a singular presence in the progressive and post‑rock landscape since Sharp debuted the project in 2008 with The Discovery. Entirely self‑produced and self‑released under a pay‑what‑you‑want Creative Commons model, Cloudkicker‘s catalog blends post‑rock atmosphere, progressive metal complexity, math‑rock intricacy, and cinematic layering — all performed, recorded, and mastered by Sharp himself.
Across albums such as Beacons in 2010, Let Yourself Be Huge in 2011, Fade in 2012, Subsume in 2013, Unending in 2019, and Solitude in 2020, Sharp has cultivated a loyal global following drawn to his music’s emotional resonance and thematic ties to aviation. While Cloudkicker has largely remained a studio-focused endeavor, Sharp did take the project live in 2014, performing a North American tour with Intronaut as his backing band. Those performances were captured on Live with Intronaut in Century Media, 2014.
In recent years, Sharp has eased the relentless pace of Cloudkicker production, shifting focus toward collaborative work such as The Supervoid Choral Ensemble. This new approach appears to favor creativity without the burnout that often comes with fully self-driven production cycles.
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