SXSW Platters

Future Clouds & Radar

(The Star Apple Kingdom)

Guitarist for Austin's former Cotton Mather, Robert Harrison is nothing if not ambitious. The debut of his new local act, Future Clouds & Radar, sprawls like Tolstoy over two CDs, which would've amounted to at least six sides in the White Album era. An amorphous entity with Harrison the only constant, FC&R expands and contracts in service of 27 songs. The anthemic "You Will Be Loved" builds to a big-budget climax on the strength of ELO strings and Chicago horns, while the slyly titled "Get Your Boots On" is glam-tinged hard rock. "Christmas Day 1923" becomes Harrison's forlorn answer to the Pogues' "Fairytale of New York," and "Safety Zone" brings it all back home with a melancholy Jon Sanchez guitar solo. Harrison's epic is overlong at times – particularly during languorous transition pieces between songs – but the memorable moments intersect with sheer chutzpah to render this an impressive achievement. (Wednesday, March 14, Light Bar, 8pm)