Cloud Nothings’ latest album, ‘Final Summer’ (out on 19 April via Pure Noise Records) finds Dylan Baldi and co in fine form, powering through 10 songs in just 29 minutes that celebrate the sheer joy of playing music loud and proud.
The title track opens proceedings with a futuristic, space-age sound that gently builds – complete with a synth-laden edge – into a mix of atmospheric feedback and distortion. As the drums pummel away, Dylan sings about trying to find happiness and how this remains so elusive: ‘Oh, I have some thoughts. Oh, I have some dreams’. ‘Daggers of Light’ follows with talk of falling off stools to end a night and a statement that ‘I was on the edge of another life’ being delivered against a hypnotic Deerhunter-style melody. ‘Mouse Policy’ has a classic Cloud Nothings sound as Dylan tries to find comfort, answering his own call and response: ‘It takes so long… Can we work it out?’
‘Silence’ may have a playful, bouncy aesthetic but there’s a dark edge to it – ‘Silence playing like a song that everyone knows’ – while ‘Running Through the Campus’ is a burst of college rock full of self-observation: ‘I’ve never run for anyone else, it’s just a thing I do for myself’. Only four of the songs on the album clock in at over three minutes and ‘Thank Me For Playing’ is a slice of woozy and distorted indie pop that finds the band once again in reassuring mood: ‘I’m doing good, you’re doing great’.
‘Do you care to change a thing at all?’ is one of the opening questions of ‘On the Chain’, a deliberately paced song that combines anthemic Jimmy Eat World-style hooks with a touch of twinkly emo, while ‘Common Mistake’ closes the album with a more jangly feel as the band’s pop sensibilities come to the fore, albeit with a touch of sadness: ‘It’s hard to find your own truth’; ‘You’ll never get to the bottom of why they did it to you this time’.
‘Final Summer’ is a breezy and brilliant record that will bring some light into your life. Don’t let it end too soon.
