Cloud Nothings: “Heartbeat”

I feel like Cloud Nothings is what I keep hoping I’ll hear when I listen to the Vivian Girls, or Wavves, Blood on the Wall, or Smith Westerns, or whatever other throwback pop-punk thing is being touted any given week. Mostly, I find those bands to be serviceable but kind of dull – they know what they’re going for, but the tunes just aren’t there.

This new Cloud Nothings record, on the other hand, is front to back fun  - great songs stuffed with joyful hooks that reminds me alternately of Rocket from the Crypt (while, admittedly, not sounding really all that much like them) and Hazel, both of which are very good things. The highlights of their sophomore record are myriad, but my first-listen favorite is this 1:10 minute banger, of which the first half is verse and the second chorus, to excellent effect.

Cloud Nothings: “Heartbeat”