Relinquished Enlightenment

"Let Yourself Be Huge" was easily one of my top favorite releases of 2011. Coupled with the compilation album, "Loop," it really just made my winter bearable.
I first found Cloudkicker sometime after the release of Portmanteau, and was immediately captivated and awestruck by the idea of one person creating amazingly intricate and immersive metal.  The one thing that also has kept me so involved in loving the project that is Cloudkicker, is being able to watch Ben Sharp grow into a more mature musician.  As you follow his blog and see the type of music he is currently listening to, you can draw distinctions to where it's influencing his own music, but more importantly, you can see how he's expounding on those ideas in a careful and fine-tuned way, that keeps it his own, but in no way tires the ideas out.  As I heard his acoustic stuff (written under the name [B.M. Sharp]) I became an even bigger fan of being able to hear his practical and calculated style, put to use in a more classical setting, which is why, to me, the release of Let Yourself Be Huge felt just so.. Huge.