Rain Cloud Nine – Black Rainbows (self released)
We’ve been really enjoying recent singles from dreampop trio Rain Cloud Nine, and with their latest Black Rainbows they are continuing a successful run
Artist: Rain Cloud Nine
Track: Black Rainbows
Label: Self released
Release date: 7 February 2026
Find it: Bandcamp
With the release of their last single, Right As Rain, back in November 2025 we described the newly-expanded-to-a-3-piece Rain Cloud Nine as ‘a band growing in confidence with their sound’. With latest track Black Rainbows they’re proving us right, with ’80s post-punk emerging from the dreampop haze.
Male-female twinned vocals sing to us of the monochrome world, of artificial colour and control, questioning our feelings and place. There’s a punctuating rhythm, shimmering percussion, and a chiming line weaving deftly through these heavier elements. We’ve given The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Cure as touchpoints before and they still stand true for this single.
‘we swallow / a pill to borrow / chemical colour’
With a cry everything drops away into a middle 8 breakdown where disjointed rhythm is haunted by echoing vocals, and as it becomes uncomfortable all sweeps back in again. Darkly glamorous, Black Rainbows is a significant dose of industrialised post-punk and moves the band forward, leaning harder into the slightly unsettling discordance they pepper their melodies with.
If you like your tracks a little retro and with lashings of dystopia-induced nostalgia then this one is a fit, and Rain Cloud Nine are a band quietly but definitively forging their sound.
Black Rainbows by Rain Cloud Nine is out digitally now.
Find Rain Cloud Nine: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram
If you have enjoyed reading this piece on Popoptica you can buy us a virtual coffee via Ko-fi – every donation helps us to do what we do.
We’d love it if you shared on social media too – find us on:
Find more new music on the site here.
Sarah Lay
A long-standing music journalist she's also co-founder of independent record label Reckless Yes, an author of novels, and when not messing around with words and music, a digital strategist.
Latest posts by Sarah Lay (see all)
- Broken Chanter – Shake It To Bits (Chemikal Underground) - 19th February 2026
- Rain Cloud Nine – Black Rainbows (self released) - 18th February 2026
- Top Shortage – Susan Stryker (Divine Schism) - 16th February 2026