Dylan Baldi is the George Costanza of indie pop. Instantly likeable but self-centred; a nihilist yet paranoid about what people think of him. In other words he is, like all of us, an emotional paradox and it’s this turmoil that’s at the heart of Clouding Nothings new single ‘I’m Not Part Of Me.’
The first track from their forthcoming new album , Here and Nowhere Else, released April 1 it sits comfortably in either the noise pop or flat out punk genre. It’s equally catchy as it is impotently angry and is thumped along by the energy of drummer, Jayson Gerycz, who leads the charge to a chorus, “I’m not I’m not you / You’re a part of me / You’re a part of me,” that will have you smashing your face against your keyboard until it’s a bloodied meat balloon. It’s sort of the statement that fit’s snugly Costanza ego bubble; self-important with more than a hint of pleading. Or put another way, it’s every Tweet or update where you think other people appear YOUR timeline and not the other way around.
In 2012 I asked Baldi about the lyrical content of the bands last album, Attack On Memory he replied: “I don’t want to say something stupid and obviously I wanted them to be something I could identify with. Stuff I can sing every night and not feel like an idiot. But I don’t generally put a whole lot of thought into them, they’re kinda the very last thing I do. I wrote the lyrics to the album over the four days we recorded with Steve (Albini).”
Now Attack on Memory was, for my tastes, a brilliant record and I still listen to it regularly. That could Baldi write an entire album of songs that I readily identified with in just four days still blows my mind. With ‘I’m Not Part Of Me’ he’s pushing himself to consider his words and in doing so he’s made a piece of commentary about about our own Costanzaesq ego bubbles on social media as well as Cloud Nothings best song to date.