“Time for a change”: Dylan Baldi dives into the new chapter of Cloud Nothings
Dylan Baldi confirmed his prowess as a songwriter a long time ago. With seven acclaimed studio albums, a series of EPs, and even a collaborative record with Wavves under his belt, Cleveland’s most prolific musician has continued to keep Cloud Nothings pushing on with an array of crunching guitars, memorable one-liners and a seemingly bottomless well of potent melodies. On the new record, Final Summer – the group’s eighth and first since 2021 – he affirms once more why he is an artist of a rare sort.
I settled down with Baldi over the phone, and before all else, he expressed that he was grateful to still be in the game. This is Cloud Nothings’ 15th year, all stemming from the decision to form an actual outfit in 2009 after one of his fake MySpace bands under the name was picked up by a New York promoter to support Woods and Real Estate. There must have been something in the water during that period, with the latter another act recently demonstrating that they’re only really just getting going despite such an extensive history behind them.
Cloud Nothings is now a trio again, featuring bassist Chris Brown and drummer Jayson Gerycz, which the frontman thinks has revitalised them and, crucially, made them much better live. In a manner that you might expect from someone so ensconced in lo-fi and DIY music, Baldi feels that “there’s more power to that kind of lineup because there’s a little more space to hear exactly what’s going on.”
Discussing his recording approach for Final Summer, Baldi says: “The only thing I really wanted to do differently on this one, sonically, was to have multiple layers of guitar, a lot more than I do on most of the other records. I thought it would sound pretty. That was the big difference on this one. For the most part, we know what we’re gonna do; it’s all pretty straightforward when we go into the studio.”
While Baldi might seemingly be able to conjure punchy, full-bodied tracks with ease, he concedes that he treats songwriting like a job and endeavours to commit time to it daily. This has seen it develop into “a practice” of sorts over the years. It’s not the same process every time, but he is resolute in that “it never starts with lyrics” and almost always forms musically by “goofing around on a guitar”. He picks up the instrument, improvises, and eventually hits upon a cool idea. He goes from there. It sounds highly analogous to that of another prolific Ohio native: Guided by Voices’ Robert Pollard.
Applying this process to the new record, Baldi states he called it Final Summer because the track of the same name was “a nice summation of the general vibe”. While he’s reticent to delve into the minutiae of his words, there is a general throughline: “The lyrics are about not being afraid to do things you want to do, and not being scared to take a chance.”
The Cloud Nothings leader is particularly astute at conjuring incisive lines that tap into the profound. For instance, the nostalgia-inducing finale, ‘Common Mistake’ contains the piercing chorus of “This is your life / It’s a common mistake / You’ll be alright / Just give more than you take”. As expected, it appears both a significant idiom and laced with blackly comic irony. Like in the case of the Guided by Voices leader, some might think that these frequent moments of philosophical sagacity come to him naturally rather than being concerted thematic efforts.
Lately, he’s been revising lyrics more than he usually would do, but, for the most part, he tends not to approach writing a track with a specific topic in mind, as it’s at the end where the connections start to form. He explains: “That’s why it’s hard for me sometimes to say what a thing means because I’m not 100% sure yet on some of these songs. The process can be more associative, rather than having an intent.”
In addition to the band returning to a three-piece, Final Summer is significant as it’s Cloud Nothings’ first on punk rock label Pure Noise Records after years of being on D.C. indie, Carpark. Signing with their new home materialised through a mutual friend who put them in contact with the label’s owner. “Because we have been around for a minute, it felt like it was time for a change in the behind-the-scenes world,” he explains.
Of this sea change, he continues: “It seemed fun for us to do something. They’re in a different space from us, in this pop-punk world, but I think a lot of people who like that stuff like us or would like us, so it’s an experiment, and it’s going well. They’re a very well-run label. They’re super nice.”
I said there must have been many prospective labels battling for their signatures given Cloud Nothings’ acclaimed reputation, but Baldi laughed, “I think they were the only ones… So that seemed like the way to go.”
Listen to ‘Final Summer’ by Cloud Nothings below.
