Los Angeles via Boston via New York collective Cloud release their wonderful album ‘Comfort Sounds'(August 5th) next week on Audio Antihero. As a special treat we have a track-by-track guide from the group and main songwriter Tyler Taormina:
http://audioantihero.bandcamp.com/album/comfort-songs
Cars & It’s Autumn:
This song was written on a series of melancholy walks and bike rides from my exgirlfriends apartment on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston. If you’ve seen Comm Ave, you know how beautiful it is, especially in the fall time. The song raises the question, “are you responsible for your emotions?” and was written at a very dark time. I wanted to write a song that we could all sing together to stare at “nothing” in the face alongside good friends, good company.
Authorless Novel:
Someone once told me that I was trying to write an authorless novel. I wasn’t aware at the time, but I was in the early stages of facing and combating my ego. That’s really all there is to say about this one. I like the way it came out.
Wish Little Fish:
It was my first day returning to Boston when my best friend and I had broken up. I knew I was in for months of painful loneliness. The strange part is, that my first day back wasn’t unbearable– it was actually incredibly euphoric. I biked around the financial district with the biggest smile on my face while listening to the loop I’d made that became this song. I suppose this brief night of happiness was the calm before the storm.
Boy Sees Mirror:
This song portrays the angry and frustrated side of suffering. I’m proud of the lyrics because I feel that they are really accurate to the feelings, but also from a semiremoved and self-reflecting standpoint. The original version of this song is actually really
slow and mellow.
Stomach Pit:
I heard the news that my grandmother had passed. I went on a walk for two hours in the freezing cold of Boston. It was also the same night that I found out my band Adam & Naive would be opening for Atlas Sound. I was torn between the excitement of the future and the daunting realization of “the end” and the past. This song is obviously referential to Auld Lang Syne and Amazing Grace. I wanted it to sound familiar and old fashioned just like the collage on the album cover.
Frére Jacque & Me:
This one’s about my brother who I love very much. It’s me saying aloud a lot of the things I can never bring myself to say to him in person. I wasn’t gonna have this on the album because I wasn’t planning on recording it. Then one day I was in a waiting room scrolling through my phone in boredom. I saw my friend Tommy’s number in my contacts and decide to shoot him a text to see if he’d wanna drum for me that night. If he said no the song wouldn’t have been recorded.
Blurry & Bright:
This is probably the only song I’ve ever recorded on a cloud album where I play the guitar. I am not so great at the guitar and never ever write songs on it. It was probably the first one written on the album. I feel as though it’s the most lighthearted song on there… but realizing the lyrics, I guess that’s only relative.
Mother Sea:
Thanks so much to Jon for the amazing Yo La Tengo inspired guitar feedback in this. I really like the coda for this one and the fact that I was able to finagle the lyric about loving myself in there. I think that’s a really important statement. I also like how the song mentions the love for “symbol signs” which is a big theme in my life.
A Light Wish Weighs A Lot:
This is one of the heaviest songs to me. I feel like it has such an immense power to me. While recording it one night, I was listening back and in a totally standard mood– getting stuff done. Suddenly after rehearing some of the lyrics that I wrote months and months prior, I just burst out into sudden tears. Very strange when that happens. The initial sound is made with the scrubbing tool on the TimeToy3 of a nice Hawaiian track.
Desperation Club:
It was Jon’s idea to have a slow reprise of this tune. When we were practicing it together he kept insisting, “…slower,” I love how this pays my homage dues to bands like Bedhead, Codeine, and Red House Painters, who I love very much. I also enjoy how it’s a song about waiting around, and by the end that’s exactly what you’re doing.
Halley’s Comet:
This one’s a shout out to my heroes Louis Armstrong and Ibrahim Ferrer. Still not entirely sure how I feel about this recording/song. It’s one of the only recordings I’ve ever done where we set up a few room mics and had to get it right or rerecord. Typically everything I do is overdubbing because it means I can do it on my own time. It was exciting to record the baby grand with the upright bass, trumpet, and brush drums all in one go. If you listen closely during the very last note of the song ringing out, you can hear my mom close the kitchen sliding door.
