Cloud Nothings

The brainchild of Dylan Baldi, Cloud Nothings emerged as leading voices in energetic, emotionally charged indie rock. Still a teenager from Cleveland, Ohio, Baldi first drew attention while operating his project alone, channeling lo-fi punk-pop on the 2011 release Cloud Nothings. Once additional musicians joined to add weight, as heard on 2012’s Attack on Memory, the group fully took shape. Later efforts such as 2018’s Last Building Burning found the band refining a potent blend of hardcore drive and unexpectedly melodic sweetness. Across their early-2020s releases—The Black Hole Understands in 2020, The Shadow I Remember in 2021, and Final Summer in 2024—Baldi and his collaborators brought greater maturity to the concise, melody-driven style that had defined Cloud Nothings from the start.

Cloud Nothings originated in 2009 when Baldi, then a freshman pursuing music and audio technology at Case Western Reserve University, tracked material in his parents’ basement during weekend visits home. He shared the recordings online under several aliases, including Cloud Nothings. After placing “Hey Cool Kid” and “Whaddaya Wanna Know” on his MySpace page, a promoter invited the project to support Woods and Real Estate at a Brooklyn concert; Baldi therefore assembled a live lineup for the December 2009 performance, turning his solo endeavor into a functioning band.

Baldi soon left school to concentrate on Cloud Nothings, issuing a rapid series of 2010 recordings that encompassed singles for Group Tightener and Old Flame Records along with the Turning On EP. Bolstered by this body of work, he secured deals with Wichita Records in the U.K. and Carpark in the U.S.; Carpark subsequently reissued Turning On, incorporating selected tracks from the earlier singles.

While touring alongside Wavves, Titus Andronicus, and Best Coast, Baldi recorded the band’s debut full-length at Baltimore’s Copycat Building with producer Chester Gwazda. The sessions yielded Cloud Nothings, which surfaced in January 2011. Months later the group entered the studio with Steve Albini to craft the rawer, more forceful Attack on Memory, released in 2012. That album marked their first appearance on major charts, reaching number 121 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and number 41 on the U.K. Indie Albums Chart. July brought the Live at Grog Shop EP, documenting an especially intense performance from the supporting tour.

During a touring respite in 2013, Baldi completed additional songwriting. The band then tracked its fourth album, Here and Nowhere Else, at a Hoboken, New Jersey studio with producer John Congleton; the record, issued in 2014, climbed to number 50 in the U.S. and number 26 in the U.K. That same year Baldi joined Wavves’ Nathan Williams for the split album No Life for Me, which appeared on Williams’ Ghost Ramp imprint in 2015. Cloud Nothings resurfaced in 2017 with Life Without Sound, a more refined collection cut in El Paso, Texas under John Goodmanson and peaking at number 15 on the U.S. Independent Albums Chart and number 18 on the U.K. Albums Chart. For the visceral 2018 set Last Building Burning, the band enlisted producer Randall Dunn to translate their live ferocity onto record.

When the COVID-19 pandemic halted concerts in 2020, Cloud Nothings issued multiple live albums drawn from their earliest performances. That July they also unveiled the jangly, introspective The Black Hole Understands, assembled through file-sharing and socially distanced sessions spanning Philadelphia and Cleveland. Another set from those sessions, Life Is Only One Event, surfaced that December via their subscription service, accompanied by a sequence of monthly EPs that had begun in August. February 2021 saw the arrival of The Shadow I Remember, which revisited the hook-laden pop of Baldi’s earliest recordings while featuring production from Steve Albini plus contributions from Brett Naucke and Ohmme’s Macie Stewart; the album reached number 17 on the U.K. Albums Chart. Cloud Nothings resumed live work later that year, highlighted by a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame appearance, and undertook a U.S. tour marking the tenth anniversary of Attack on Memory in late 2022. Around the same period they released Live at Red Palace, preserving a 2012 Washington, D.C. concert.

Early in 2023 the lineup reduced to the trio of Baldi, drummer Jayson Gerycz, and bassist Chris Brown. They signed with Pure Noise Records late that year and delivered Final Summer, their first album for the label, in April 2024. Recorded with Jeff Zeigler and mixed by Illuminati Hotties’ Sarah Tudzin, the release added greater polish and depth to the raw catchiness that had characterized The Shadow I Remember.