Cloud Nothings (Photo by Jesse Lirola)
Cleveland indie rockers Cloud Nothings are on tour with Japandroids in the wake of releasing Life Without Sound, their fourth studio album, via Carpark Records earlier this year. The tour locally lands at Ram’s Head Live in Baltimore, Maryland, on Monday, Oct. 30.
To create a video for their latest single, Cloud Nothings commissioned multimedia artist AUJIK.
Speaking of the inspiration to hire AUJIK, Cloud Nothings vocalist Dylan Baldi said, “I really liked AUJIK’s previous work (especially the Spatial Bodies videos he has on his Vimeo), so got in touch and asked him to make something along those lines for ‘Up to the Surface.’ He agreed way more heartily than I thought he would and decided to make a sort of continuation of that Spatial Bodies series, but this time with more focus on the hobbies of little blocky computer people. I think they’re cute, even though they inhabit some kind of desolate future void world.”
Watch the official music video for “Up to the Surface” by Cloud Nothings on YouTube:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRsP8-mf_ns]
AUJIK said his vision for the video was a depiction of “a Brutalist version of Kyoto and its suburbs from the perspective of a Japanese giant hornet. It sweeps through convenience stores, classrooms, Shinto temples, zen gardens and humongous Brutalist structures; witnessing all sorts of human behaviors before it reaches its hive.” He added: “It’s a comment on the absurdity of modern life seen in a future nostalgic context.”
Dylan is joined by his bandmates — drummer Jayson Gerycz and bassist TJ Duke in addition to new guitarist Chris Brown — on this tour with Japandroids.
Regarding the new album Life Without Sound, Dylan elaborated: “Generally, it seems like my work has been about finding my place in the world. But there was a point in which I realized that you can be missing something important in your life, a part you didn’t realize you were missing until it’s there — hence the title. This record is like my version of new age music. It’s supposed to be inspiring.”
Cloud Nothings
w/ Japandroids
Ram’s Head Live
Monday, Oct. 30
Doors @ 7pm
$25/$30
All ages