When I first stumbled upon Cleveland’s Cloud Nothings, I was immediately impressed with the stylish simplicity of their melodic and raw recordings. Laden with pop-punk energy and layers of indie influences, their snappy, short songs still manage to elicit excitement, which is quite the feat in this era of lo-fi, garage-band sound saturation. When I discovered that these songs are the product of Cleveland’s resident kid-brilliant, 19-year old Dylan Baldi, I was even more thrown, and shocked that someone so young was capable of writing such gems…as well as a bit jealous that I wasn’t this cool when I was his age.

I got the chance to see them play recently in Muncie, IN, and after a somewhat awkward set, (much due to the venue,) I caught up with the teensy bit arrogant but mostly endearing Baldi. When I mentioned this Laundromatinee session, he exclaimed that the band had learned the first track featured here specifically for our recording. It has no name, and no one in the band actually remembers how to play it. How appropriate of an attitude for a band that churns out head-bobbing riffs with the ease of seasoned pros.

The second track, ‘Weird Son,’ starts with an achingly catchy guitar line and a sweet vocal melody, then slowly turns itself inside out, as the pace quickens and the intensity shifts. Amid manageable vocal harmonies and forceful playing, ‘Weird Son’ becomes a mantra for every kid that wants something different than what has been laid out before them.

‘Morgan,’ the third song featured here, smacks you in the face from the jump. It moves so fast, yet Baldi just strums along, making everything look nearly effortless; due, no doubt, to the fact that he’s been writing songs and playing music since he was 5. But the star of this song is Jason, their drummer, who continues to drive his kit ‘till the wheels fall off, propelling the group through the vortex of rising and falling guitar flashes that peek through into every chorus.

The first collection of Baldi’s songs was released as ‘Turning On,’ on Carpark Records, in 2010. It sounds just like these recordings, and I love every minute of it.

MP3 Session Downloads : 

Cloud Nothings - Untitled (Unreleased song)
Cloud Nothings - Weird Sons
Cloud Nothings - Morgan

Recorded and Mixed by Jeff DuPont
Filmed and Edited by Doug Fellegy
Words by Jessica Clark