Cloud Nothings’ new album ‘Life Without Sound’ is a journey of discovery, both for the band and the listener. In nine tracks it spans a chasm of sound: to listen to it is to scale a mountain, only to find a rope bridge suspended over a volcano. It builds and climbs, finding a frenetic peak on the last track, and releases into an exhalation of an ending. You put in some work at the beginning, but the rewards you reap from reaching the end are worth it.
Opening with ‘Up To The Surface’ is a bit of a non-event. It’s a beautiful track, but, on first listen, it lacks impact. However, by the second or third time you have heard it, there is a depth revealed that resolves its placement.
Track two and three are instant gratification. ‘Things Are Right With You’ is punchy and has all the groove you hope will kick in, and ‘Internal World’ is the track that most sounds like it belongs to the heart and mind of Cloud Nothings’ creator Dylan Baldi. Lead single ‘Modern Act’ is lighter than the rest of the album, a catchy pop track that hooks you in and doesn’t let go. It’s is infectious and leads wonderfully into ‘Sight Unseen’, which gives you back the tumultuous guitars you crave as a Cloud Nothings fan.
Baldi says ‘Life Without Sound’ is his best work to date, claiming it held up to his highest standard of review – a trip in his car.
“A thing I like to do with all of my records is drive around with them,” the 25-year-old frontman says. “In high school, I would listen to music for hours like that: just driving through the suburbs of Cleveland. And if it sounds good to me in that context and I can think of high school me listening to it and saying, ‘That’s okay,’ I feel good about the record. This is the one that’s felt best.”
Having spent more than a year writing ‘Life Without Sound’, Baldi and bandmates Jayson Gerycz (drums) and TJ Duke (bass) recorded the record in three weeks of March of 2016, with Death Cab for Cutie producer John Goodmanson at Sonic Ranch in Texas.
“Generally, it seems like my work has been about finding my place in the world,” Baldi says, “but there was a point in which I realised that you can be missing something important in your life, a part you didn’t realise you were missing until it’s there—hence the title. This record is like my version of new age music,” he adds. “It’s supposed to be inspiring.”
Inspiring it is, and the band’s growth into this record is evident. The sound is more refined, and that cleaner approach has meant this record leans off the punk pedal, and more into the ‘new age rock’ they now label themselves as.
RHIAN WILKINSON