Leila Abdul-Rauf - Cold and Cloud (2013)

Cold and Cloud is the self-produced solo debut of Leila Abdul-Rauf. A temporary escape from the worlds of her current and former projects (Vastum, Hammers of Misfortune, Saros, Amber Asylum, and more recently, Ionophore), Abdul-Rauf enters a world all of her own weaving brass and piano passages into filmic soundscapes inspired by the cold, dreary summers of San Francisco. Cold and Cloud tells an introspective story of loss from the haunting lyrical sections of tracks like "Tears in White Fluids" and "Questions", to the solemn drones of "Will I Be Sane?" and the funereal finality of "Separation".