Genre tags have their uses, of course, but are ultimately pretty limited devices. Cloud Control are a case in point; since the release of 2010’s charming ‘Bliss Release’, they’ve been neatly sealed and packaged as “dream pop”, a bit of a non sequitir given the sonic territories the band traverses. ‘Dream Cave’, their latest release, proves this to be true.

Opening with Scream Rave, the band employ a looped, effect-saturated vocal line over Ulrich Leffner’s loose, syncopated beat to create a sense of trippy, psychedelic disorientation. This leads into Dojo Rising, where the rhythm tightens to an indie snap and is combined with some classic American-shoegaze slacker vocals from Allister Wright – “Then I’m gonna break your heart/Should have probably told you from the start/But I’m lazy.” The Smoke, The Feeling is synthy and trancy with an indellible ’80s pop resonance, while the album’s title track, conclusion and best song is an unbelievably charming homage to ‘50s songwriters (think mournful Roy Orbison) that deserves to be on Eddie Rockets jukeboxes the length and breadth of the country. Clearly, there’s more here to consider than “dream pop”.

Yet, sonic exploration on a record can be a double-edged sword – it can lead to a sense of imbalance for the listener, a bit of “Okay, so what is this band actually about?” Explore all you want, it’s still important that the record holds a core identity and doesn’t disappear into the realms of self-indulgence, of experimentation for the sense of experimentation. Cloud Control fall into this pitfall on the album’s second half.

Happy Birthday is far too twee and cute for its own good, while putting two six-minute plus songs at an album’s close is never a good idea – somebody dropped the ball on the tracklisting. One of these is the aforementioned Dream Cave (nothing wrong there) but the other is Tombstone, a self-indulgent number that drifts along laboriously without a purpose of direction, sounding more like the band warming up than an actual song. It detracts from the overall flow of the album, which is a real shame.

Still, ‘Dream Cave’, despite a few wobbles, is a charming, adventurous, sometimes magical piece of work. Give Cloud Control credit for creating something that is explorative, yet still cohesive – no easy accomplishment. Dream pop; alt; shoegaze; new wave; indie…whatever. ‘Dream Cave’ shows that it’s reductive and misleading to read too much into genre tags – remember, The Beatles were once considered a boyband. Just listen to the music, man.

If you like Cloud Control check out Irish band Squarehead.