New single from Cloud Nothings takes them into the realms of stadium-rock.

 

As a publication that champions new music, it is horribly bittersweet when a band steps beyond the precipice and takes the leap into wider successes. Cloud Nothings are likely to be the next band to make this leap, with 105,000 people on Facebook agreeing. Even if that were not already the case, their newest offering Modern Act would ensure it.

Pushing forward on an endless drum beat and an urgent guitar section, the track is the epitome of upbeat modern rock. Feeling a little bit like a mix between The Gaslight Anthem and The Enemy, the track has all of the essential songwriting signs of a rock-pop anthem – these being a good and conservative use of dynamic shifts and the right amount of repetition to invite singing along (rather than inciting “lazy songwriter” insults).

The rush of guitars and varying vocal melodies create an atmosphere of something drawing to a close, whether it’s a festival set or their time of being referred to as an ’emerging’ band. With Modern Act, they have emerged.