Visible Cloaks

Visible Cloaks, the ambient duo from Portland, Oregon, originated as Spencer Doran’s lone endeavor. Doran first attracted notice in 2010 through the mix series Fairlights, Mallets and Bamboo, where he explored obscure, cult Japanese ambient and new-age recordings from the 1980s. He issued several Japan-only albums under the monikers Cloaks and Neon Cloaks, both deeply shaped by that aesthetic, until he altered the project’s name to sidestep overlap with another act. Ryan Carlile later became his partner after the two connected during an all-ages club night Doran organized, at which point Carlile was still a high-school senior. Their initial Visible Cloaks outing, a self-titled EP, surfaced in 2014 via the cassette imprint Sun Ark and received a vinyl reissue the next year from Musique Plastique. The pair’s tranquil, ethereal sound generated considerable attention, prompting a deal with RVNG Intl. that yielded the full-length debut Reassemblage in early 2017. That album merged Doran’s longstanding Japanese references with an analytical, computer-driven experimental method employing MIDI and generative techniques while including a guest appearance by the cult Japanese pop duo Dip in the Pool. Later the same year the mini-album Lex arrived.