Cloud Nothings

For nearly 15 years, Cloud Nothings have continued to hit the target, steadily becoming a part of the fabric of modern indie rock as we know it with a run of albums. This streak continues with their latest full-length, Final Summer, an album that feels assured and instantly satisfying.

Formed in 2009 by guitarist and vocalist Dylan Baldi, Cloud Nothings evolved over the years from a one-man lo-fi project into a unit also composed of drummer Jayson Gerycz and bassist Chris Brown. Cloud Nothings, over so many years and so many records, have existed long enough to witness all sorts of musical moments come and go, but the secret to their endurance is not about navigating trends. “We’ve just never felt inclined to stop,” Baldi explains. “It’s not like this makes us millions of dollars, but it’s a great gig, it’s what we love to do.” Gerycz adds, “It’s just still so fun every time we do it, every time we go get in the basement and start writing.”

Recorded with Jeff Zeigler, mixed by Sarah Tudzin, and mastered by Jack Callahan, Final Summer is driven by the energy that comes from playing guitars and drums loudly. This is not the work of a new band cramming all of their ideas into a debut album or veterans grinding through another release: it is a band driven to make the best version of themselves. “I just like making things,” says Baldi. “I love having something that I’ve made by the end of the day, even if it’s just one song. It’s like proof that my day happened. I’m just always trying to refine the thing we do, which is to make songs that take you from one place to another.”

Very few bands take listeners on that kind of journey within a hooky rock song as effectively as Cloud Nothings, and the album’s opening title track proves why. A wash of crackling synths sets the scene before the band roars to life with a cutting riff and Gerycz’s driving beat. From there, it is layer after layer of interlocking melodies and guitar lines, all rising action while Baldi lays out the album’s overarching lyrical ideas. “It’s about feeling alright in the moment,” Baldi says. “A lot of these songs sort of ended up being about getting by or trying to keep improving despite everything.”

His lyrics often take on a mantra-like quality, using repetition and a distinct delivery to dig something deeper out of observations about the mundane or frustrating parts of life. On early Final Summer standout “I’d Get Along,” Baldi repeats “if something would happen with me…” over and over, each time adding to the tension before the track’s chorus explodes with a cacophony of fuzzed-out guitars and a howling “I’d get along.” Throughout the record, Cloud Nothings strike a balance of inventiveness and accessibility, with every track full of hooks but also the kinds of details and twists that reward repeat listens. “The Golden Halo” feels like a two-minute-long chorus, hook after hook moving forward with a motorik beat and an ever-growing sea of voices, while elsewhere songs like “Mouse Policy” or “Running Through The Campus” take very literal ideas and spin them into something else through walls of thick bass and distortion.

On Final Summer closer “Common Mistake,” Baldi sings, “This is your life, it’s a common mistake. We’ll be alright, just give more than you take.” It is a direct lyric, a clear and real sentiment filtered through a melody that stays in your head before the end of the first chorus. The line could almost be a mission statement for the band itself: a group that creates with a workman-like commitment, providing listeners with something authentic and artful at a steady pace. Cloud Nothings play at Lending Room in Leeds on 8 November 2026 at 7h30.