Back in 2012, when I had just started to post reviews, I reviewed an LP called Attack on Memory. I gave it a pretty solid score and acknowledged that it was a solid, no frills Rock album. Well, it's been two years, and Cloud Nothings are back with their followup, Here and Nowhere Else. And if I was to put it bluntly, I could easily say that this LP is like Attack, a very solid Rock LP, but maybe some of the excitement has been lost along the way. But what does that mean? Well, one has to think back at 2012 and remember that strong Rock LPs were few and far between. In a year that was dominated by stellar Rap albums, and Rock music that was less concerned with being aggressive and straightforward, and more about dolling out a heady concept.
However, 2013 produced some of the finest LPs that the genre has seen in quite a while, and 2014 hasn't been around long enough to make that judgement. Regardless, the fact that there is a loud, catchy and slightly wild Rock LP is just not as surprising as it was a couple years ago, couple that with the fact that we now expect this kind of thing from Cloud Nothings, whereas Attack was a complete left turn for the once low-fi indie rock of their previous LPs.
Enter Here and Nowhere Else, an album I feel is perfectly acceptable and actually features the bands finest single yet, "I'm Not Part of Me". Unfortunately, there is some dead weight, I felt the same way about Attack initially (though the album did grow on me). For instance, the seven minute "Pattern Walks", a track that tries to recreate the magic that was "Wasted Days", but lacks any real propulsion or a memorable melody. Or the completely forgettable "Giving Into Seeing" which I still can't remember even minutes after listening to it.
But, that is the extent of truly poor moments on the LP; the rest are either great, or middle of the road for me. I really enjoyed the first three tracks, especially the freak out at the end of "Psychic Trauma", and I really like how aggressive the vocals sound on a lot of the tracks here.
All in all, this is a decent LP from a band that I still see a lot of potential in. They just need to hone their songwriting chops a bit more, and focus on writing good tunes rather than sprawling ones.
7.0/10
However, 2013 produced some of the finest LPs that the genre has seen in quite a while, and 2014 hasn't been around long enough to make that judgement. Regardless, the fact that there is a loud, catchy and slightly wild Rock LP is just not as surprising as it was a couple years ago, couple that with the fact that we now expect this kind of thing from Cloud Nothings, whereas Attack was a complete left turn for the once low-fi indie rock of their previous LPs.
Enter Here and Nowhere Else, an album I feel is perfectly acceptable and actually features the bands finest single yet, "I'm Not Part of Me". Unfortunately, there is some dead weight, I felt the same way about Attack initially (though the album did grow on me). For instance, the seven minute "Pattern Walks", a track that tries to recreate the magic that was "Wasted Days", but lacks any real propulsion or a memorable melody. Or the completely forgettable "Giving Into Seeing" which I still can't remember even minutes after listening to it.
But, that is the extent of truly poor moments on the LP; the rest are either great, or middle of the road for me. I really enjoyed the first three tracks, especially the freak out at the end of "Psychic Trauma", and I really like how aggressive the vocals sound on a lot of the tracks here.
All in all, this is a decent LP from a band that I still see a lot of potential in. They just need to hone their songwriting chops a bit more, and focus on writing good tunes rather than sprawling ones.
7.0/10
No comments:
Post a Comment