Cloud Nothings: Attack on Memory – review

The second proper album from Ohio's Cloud Nothings presents a band transformed. And a band it very much is now. Rather than being just Dylan Baldi recording pop-punk songs by himself in his bedroom, as was the case with the first album, this is now a permanent four-piece group, and one with considerable chops at that. Moving away from those effective but simplistic, and pleasurable, beginnings, Baldi's songs are now longer, broader and heavier, fitting into a particular lineage of blustery, melodic indie-rock/post-hardcore bands from the US midwest (Chicago's Cap'n Jazz, Kansas's Farewell Bend). Steve Albini's live-in-the-studio recording suits the band's hooky, minor-chord thrashings and knotty post-rock workouts down to the ground. And while Baldi's vocals sometimes retain something of the snotty teenager, on the whole, this is a terrific step forward.