“I wrote this because I feel like there aren’t too many rock bands doing this right now,” says frontman Dylan Baldi. “A lot of the popular bands with guitars are light. They sound good, but it’s missing the heaviness I like.”
Right now, indie rock is centered around controlled solos instead of unpredictability, tight chords instead of jagged riffs, clean tones instead of rough edges. That much is evident by the comparisons thrown at Cloud Nothings, all touchstones from the past: the Wipers, Drive Like Jehu, Sunny Day Real Estate, Nirvana. The Cleveland four-piece want to keep doing this, to be a band that continues the evolution of barbed, rapid-fire, energetic rock without ever trying to replicate those artists, if it means this current era can have benchmark artists of their own. With “Last Building Burning,” their fifth full-length studio album, Cloud Nothings become the torchbearers they want to see in the world.
“Last Building Burning” is the product of eight days with producer Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Wolves in the Throne Room, Boris) in Texas studio Sonic Ranch. Clocking in just over half an hour, the eight-song album sees Cloud Nothings capture their onstage appeal with help from Dunn, who Baldi describes as “technically minded without relying on technology to perfect the live sound.”
Last Building Burning by Cloud Nothings