written by Chris Familton

Oh the pressure of being touted as the next best thing and one of the great hopes of 2011. Time will tell if Cloud Nothings (Dylan Baldi) will become as popular as many say he should be but in terms of the ‘is he any good?’ question the answer is yeah, the 19 year old kid from Cleveland who draws from Wavves, The Strokes and R.E.M. has the magic touch in many respects.

Baldi keeps things on a lo-fi tip from most of this album with trebly, fuzzed out vocals and a heady rush of drums forming much of his sound. He is a dab hand at super hooky melodies that dance all over his songs of teen issues generally centered around relationship problems. Understand At All sets the tone with its jerky, punk pop rhythms that segues seamlessly into Not Important that has a 80s US punk feel to it but smeared with much more chiming, ‘get inside your head’ moments.

Most songs are around the three minute mark which serves his songs well given their straightforward structures and tendency to focus on only a few central musical ideas. Should Have and the standout You’re Not That Good At Anything repeat their infectious choruses multiple times until they stick in your head for the rest of the day.

Also recently released is a collection of EPs (Turning On) that shows he hasn’t strayed far from his earlier songs. The same jangle and sugar rush is there albeit in a more primitively recorded form. It will be interesting to see how he progresses from here, he will either retain the charm of his rougher moments or tidy up his sound. Regardless he has proven he has the goods to match the hype.

this review first appeared in Drum Media

UNDERSTAND AT ALL…