Originally started as a bedroom homage to Dylan Baldi's record collection it would be an understatement to use the words 'Growth' and 'Change'to describe the Cloud Nothings new album. Whereas the first two Cloud Nothings records where, in sound, a tribute to Baldi's love of fuzzy power pop rooted in the 90's indie and punk scenes, channelling bands such as Superchunk and Jawbreaker and on par with peers such as lo-fi slackers Wavves and 90's revivalists Yuck.This, their third record released on Carpark records (home to Toro y Moi, Beach House and Dan Deacon to name a few) and the first chance to hear a band that have matured their sound and moved out of bedroom recording.
If you wanted to judge the cloud nothings purely on Attack on Memory's opener, the slow burning "no future/no past", you would be mistaken in thinking that this was not the same band who released the fizzy, downstroked power pop of last years self titled opus.The sparse piano line and clean picked guitar of "no Future" mark a moodier more negative sounding Cloud nothings than the summery lo-fi punk pop of 2010's "Turning On".
Musically, there is more room to breathe and an a more discordant sound. the song is driven by the dull thud of a distorted bassline over which Baldi throws sharp fragments of guitar where before it would be the urgent melodic choppiness of bright yet heavily strummed barre chords.
The influence of Steve Albini as "Attacks.." producer goes against every story or out of context quote you may have read recently about his alleged indifference in the studio during the recording process. Considering the denser sound and live, vociferous sonic's contained on record, Albini has stamped his mark squarely on this. From the angry insistent clang of "No Sentiment" to the feedback metallic howl of eight and a half minute highlight "Wasted Days" Cloud Nothings, along with Albini's recording talent for capturing raw sound on tape, have been able to examine a new found dissonance in their once bubblegum sound.
Older fans shall be reassured to know that the old cloud Nothings they have come to love are still there on tracks such as "stay useless" and bouncy pop gem "Fall In" which will deaden the blow when the 80's U.S punk influenced tracks like "Separation" with its discordant guitars and splintering cymbals (that only after listening to you realise that its an instrumental track) and the nirvana-esque grungy bellow of the aforementioned "No Sentiment" hit your speakers.
Another positive to "Attacks.." sound is the addition of a live band. On previous records baldi played all the instruments himself so at times you got the impression that they were an afterthought.Drums that were only there to keep up with the frantic hooky guitars and poppy tunefulness of Baldi's songwriting chops.
For this record (and future tours) Dylan has a full band backing him and it shows. the drums are a substantial thunder throughout and on "No Future/No Past" the bass and drums could carry the song without any guitar and would still pack the same emotional punch as it it does with the skewed noise of the guitars entwined around the song.It all serves to make Cloud Nothings "a real band" (that term being used in the most positive relevance.)
Cloud Nothings have made made the first great record of 2012 and in doing so have set the bar for all guitar based bands releasing new albums this year. It will be interesting to see who comes close to matching "Attack On Memory" in terms of evolution and artistic development.
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