Watch Cloud Nothings’ Dylan Baldi Play “A Silent Reaction” and “The Mess Is Permanent” for “Neighborhoods”

Baldi performs the “Black Hole Understands” singles outside Philly’s Please Touch Museum.
Neighborhoods
Watch Cloud Nothings’ Dylan Baldi Play “A Silent Reaction” and “The Mess Is Permanent” for “Neighborhoods”

Baldi performs the “Black Hole Understands” singles outside Philly’s Please Touch Museum.

Words: Mike LeSuer

photo by Daniel Topete

July 28, 2020

At the beginning of July, Cloud Nothings released an uncharacteristically gentle follow-up to their four-album streak of noisy post-hardcore releases, not to mention a full-LP collaboration with noise-pop group Wavves. The Black Hole Understands was, impressively, made post-lockdown, with the deceptively large width of Pennsylvania separating vocalist/guitarist Dylan Baldi from drummer/mixer Jayson Gerycz. “When the world shut down in March, making music was the only thing keeping me tethered to any sense of normalcy,” Baldi shares. “The Black Hole Understands is a record born of this early quarantine anxiety and confusion.” 

With the additional help of Jack Callahan (who mastered the album) in New York, you can hardly tell Black Hole was constructed over email. “It kind of shocks me that we managed to make this whole album via email,” Baldi confesses. “I’d record a guitar track in GarageBand and send it to Jayson, who would play some drums and send them back to me, and I’d build the rest of the song out over top of his drumming.”

Stripping the album’s songs down even further, Baldi recently played two of the record’s singles for us for our “Neighborhoods” series outside his adopted home of Philadelphia’s Please Touch Museum. Behind the camera is Speedy Ortiz/Sad13’s Sadie Dupuis, who at one point you can hear goading Dylan on to play Cake.

Watch the video below, and grab Black Hole here. The band will be donating 25 percent of album sales to Play on Philly and the Rainey Institute.