Cloud Nothings emerged last year as a fresh modern shoe gaze outfit. Their self-titled album was a quirky mix of ambient noise filled with whimsical style vocals and diverse content. Their latest release titled Attack on Memory is a quite darker experience. The album begins with the heartbreaking “No Future No Past” which is a visceral dirge with plenty of guttural screams and pulse pounding instrumentals. Even the more upbeat tracks (“Wasted Days”, “Fall In”) possess an element of sadness and introspection that only made brief appearances during the Cloud Nothings album.
This album has been dubbed by critics as lo-fi and an assault on the heart, both of which are difficult to disagree with. The guitar work is extremely creative and the vocals are much more in your face than those of earlier albums. Attack on Memory is also an album that was obviously recorded as a band instead of in an Ohio basement. “Wasted Days” features five minutes of blistering distorted guitar, booming drums, and an outro that could have only been recorded by a band with chemistry.
The album was produced by Steve Albini (Shellac, and other shit) and this fact is evident from start to finish. Angst filled, raw, and riff heavy, Attack on Memory has plenty of Shellac-esque punk elements and a perfectly engineered use of instrumentals. This album hearkens back to the hay day of emo with its bleak outlook, but the production hardly comes off as whiny and juvenile. Frontman Dylan Baldi presents each song with such purity that the angst does not seem forced at all. Attack on Memory is not a collection of songs with contrived sadness, but a sample of what the emotional hardcore genre used to represent.
On about track 4 “Stay Useless” the angsty sad content really begins to shine through. “I need time to stop moving, I need time to stay useless”, but these lines are delivered with such feeling and grit that they stray far from the whine that turns many away from songs with these types of lyrics. Attack on Memory delivers exactly what it promises. Pulse pounding instruments, no bullshit lyrics, and an underlying theme that has the power to move. While Cloud Nothings was a solid release, it didn’t seem to have the direction and focus that Attack on Memory possesses.
Only 8 tracks in length, the album doesn’t need much time to get into your head make you feel feelings that you hardly recognize. With the help of Albini, Attack on Memory stands toe to toe with some of the most memorable punk albums ever produced. True fans of the genre will appreciate the gnarled “I don’t give a fuck” snarly attitude that the new sound of Cloud Nothings brings to the table.
However, with this comes an album that many will need getting used to and that some will flat out despise. It takes a certain type of listener to roll with the abrasiveness of heavy distortion and someone yelling into the mic. It took a special type of listener to appreciate Shellac, and with such similarities in style, the new Cloud Nothings will appeal to the same type of listener. For those who liked their 2010 release, there is also the hurdle of knowing that this release is completely different. I think this album is a gritty return to the punk and emo of the olden days as well as the first step to making Cloud Nothings more than a collection of lo-fi tracks and unique hooks.
Cloud Nothings is now officially a band, one that relies on the sum of all its parts to create whatever sound they decide to produce. The closing tracks “Our Plans” and “Cut You” are likely the songs to really focus on as they are likely the tracks that will define the sound of Cloud Nothings future works. Attack on Memory is not for everyone, but for those who enjoy gritty punk/emo, this is the album you have been waiting for.
