Cloud Nothings

The Shadow I Remember

By revisiting their past, Cloud Nothings find something new in it, as well as something timeless, and The Shadow I Remember is a full-throated, full-hearted triumph.

It's a release that sees the band returning to what they do best, but also updating and fine-tuning their craft to reflect how they've matured.

The album feels like that of a seasoned band, but its refined nature doesn’t sacrifice their signature sense of spunk.

'The Shadow I Remember' feels like a nod to where they've been, but more importantly a big, open arms gesture to where they're going.

The Shadow I Remember is a great return for the band. High-speed rhythms jut up against hooks that fly around and grab you.

After eleven years, countless tours and six records, Cloud Nothings have capped off their first decade by releasing their best album yet. It’s encouraging to hear how comfortable they sound together, how powerful they are in a room crashing and bashing their way through these cathartic songs.

The intensity of Cloud Nothings’s sonics—all of the wailing noises a guitar can produce as well as hard-hitting, double-time drumming—provide a cathartic outlet with which to confront the pains of self-definition and personal growth in an ever-amorphous world.

The Shadow I Remember perfectly encapsulates everything the band do so well, and hints at what might be to come.

Raw and uncompromising, yet always harbouring a degree of melody, it’s the product of ten years of learning, and succeeds in deftly balancing subtle nuance with a sense of uncompromising aggression.

The Shadow I Remember feels untethered from expectations: a biting statement of selfhood in the face of change.

The album squeezes 11 songs into 33 minutes, with plenty of space for little experiments and faithful rockers.

As the Cleveland band returns to Electrical Audio at full force, they retain their penchant for rueful concision and world-weary chronicles of pandemic existence.

It’s loud for the sake of being loud, as if Baldi feels like he needs to appease the crowd who dismissed his riskier moves on Life Without Sound by making another Attack on Memory, rather than keep pushing forward.