Walking down the street, Dylan Baldi of Cloud Nothings appears to be a meek, introverted, keep-to-himself type of guy. And he very well may be. With his slight frame, messy haircut, and boyish face he does not appear to be a punk rocker.
On Saturday night at the High Noon Saloon, Baldi maintained his unassuming demeanor and opted to let his guitar do the talking. It was almost jarring to experience the contrast between Baldi’s indifferent stage presence and the sheer power he brought with his guitar.
This dissonance was on display when Baldi brought his band, Cloud Nothings, to headline the third night of True Endeavors’ FRZN Fest at the High Noon. The four day event featured emerging artists like Strand of Oaks and more established artists in Madison like deM atlaS and headliner Cloud Nothings.
Arriving onstage slightly before 11:45 p.m., Cloud Nothings began with “Now Hear In,” the opening track from their latest release, Here and Nowhere Else. This song set the tone for the rest of the performance as the band started with a burning, up-tempo track and never relented.
Cloud Nothings’ noisy ‘Here and Nowhere Else’ rocks its way through bitterness
From there, the band went into “Stay Useless,” a single from their 2012 release Attack on Memory. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long for the moshing and crowd surfing to start. Despite all the action, the band maintained its stoic demeanor, barely looking at or acknowledging any of the action.
The energy stayed about the same throughout the whole set. The show was an hour of unadulterated, raw energy, including only one mid-tempo song. While some bands make their name with their live presence, what made Cloud Nothings’ set great was less showmanship and more instrumental skill.
While Baldi and bassist TJ Duke kept a detached feeling up front, drummer Jayson Gerycz did quite the opposite. He started the set with Scotty Smalls-esque long-brimmed hat, but ditched it by the end of the performance revealing sweaty, unkempt hair, likely a product of his energetic drumming style. His mouth remained open with a slight smile and ecstatic eyes the whole show, paralleling Este Haim’s bass face.
The set ended with powerful tracks “No Future/No Past,” “I’m Not a Part of Me” and “Wasted Days.” “I’m Not a Part of Me,” the single from Here and Nowhere Else, stood out as most of the High Noon yelled the chorus back at Baldi and company.
With minimal banter (restricted entirely to Baldi introducing the band, saying a few obligatory “thank yous,” and announcing the last song), the band showed how to put on a sustained, fun, energetic show. Being the fifth band of the night, Cloud Nothings easily could have lost the crowd had they not pulled off the sustained energy. Instead, they achieved a tight set answered by an overabundant amount of moshing and fist pumping. Cloud Nothings’ brand of high-octane punk rock was the perfect cure for a case of the mid-winter blues.
