Clara Cloud returns with Rabbit King: a dark folkloric descent between myth, power and transformation
With Rabbit King, Canadian singer‑songwriter Clara Cloud returns in striking form, unveiling the second single from her sophomore album As Above. The track is not just a song, but a mythical chapter, a shadowed fable that twists the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice into a modern meditation on power, ambition and downfall.
Hypnotic, theatrical and richly symbolic, Rabbit King pulls the listener down the rabbit holenot toward wonder, but into a forested underworld where seduction wears a crown, authority corrodes, and even kings are destined to fall.
A voice that leads, a story that consumes
Clara Cloud has a voice built for storytelling. In Rabbit King, it becomes the guiding thread through a world of dark folklore and ceremonial rhythm, where myth and modernity coexist. Her delivery is intimate yet commanding, capable of shifting from whispered incantation to soaring refrain, always maintaining a sense of ritual.
The song draws loose inspiration from Alice in Wonderland’s White Rabbit, here reimagined as a lost wanderer, crowned by a Hades‑like Red Queen. His ascent is fast, intoxicating and doomed. The recurring chant, “Ra ta ta ta…”, beats like a ritual drum, marking each step of his tragic rise and inevitable ruin.
This is not a morality tale told from above, but one lived from within. Rabbit King feels like a descent, a warning, and a mirror held up to anyone who has ever reached too far, too fast.
Between medieval chamber pop and storm‑lit folk
Musically, Rabbit King exists in a richly layered space. Cloud blends medieval chamber pop, forest‑soaked folk textures and stormy alternative anthems, creating a sound that feels both ancient and urgent.
There are echoes of Florence Welch’s dramatic sweep, the earthy pulse of Mumford & Sons, and the untamed, elemental magic of AURORA, yet the result remains unmistakably Clara Cloud. Strings shimmer like torchlight, percussion moves with ceremonial intent, and melodies unfold as if carved from myth rather than written in a studio.
The production, handled by Sal Verma and mastered by Greg Mindroff, preserves the song’s raw emotional core while allowing its theatrical scale to breathe. Rabbit King stands confidently on its own, yet clearly signals something larger taking shape.
A growing myth: from The Woods to As Above
Rabbit King builds on the critical acclaim of Cloud’s visual album The Woods, further cementing her reputation as “BC’s Kootenay fairy songstress.” Rooted in the mountains of Kimberley, British Columbia, Clara Cloud has been weaving together music, film and theatre since 2018, crafting immersive worlds rather than isolated releases.
Her work draws deeply from Celtic traditions, folklore mysticism and dreamy pop atmospheres, always filtered through a contemporary sensibility. This genre‑blending approach has become her signature: songs that feel like rituals, performances that resemble storytelling circles, albums that unfold like mythic cycles.
With As Above, Cloud appears poised to expand this vision into her most ambitious project yet, a mythical opera of love, loss and longing, where each song is a chapter and every note leads further into the forest.
Art, education and continuity
Beyond her work as a recording artist, Clara Cloud is deeply invested in the future of music. Alongside her creative output, she mentors emerging artists as a music educator, nurturing the next generation of storytellers.
In 2025, she will lead a choral workshop with Selkirk Secondary School, continuing her commitment to community, collaboration and artistic transmission. It is this balance, between personal myth‑making and collective growth, that gives her work both intimacy and weight.
NZIRIA Magazine take
With Rabbit King, Clara Cloud delivers a song that feels ancient and urgent at the same time. Dark, immersive and emotionally charged, it confirms her ability to transform folklore into contemporary resonance. This is not just a single, but a threshold, a moment where myth becomes music and music becomes warning.
If As Above continues along this path, it promises to be a deeply cinematic and spellbinding album, one that rewards attentive listening and invites repeated descent.
More info 🔗 www.claramacleod.com
NZIRIA Magazine — independent music, culture and stories that resist the obvious.
