Following the recent release of Cloud’s final album Plays with Fire, Audio Antihero have shared The Desperation Club; a monster tribute compilation celebrating ten years of Cloud.

“Community and care has always been at the core of Cloud’s music and we’re grateful to be able to share these reworks of his songs new and old by artists from his hometown, fans from abroad, Audio Antihero alumni, collaborators and even family members.

Across these thirty five songs you will find Cloud’s music and words revised as pop, electronica, drone, flamenco, shoegaze, lo-fi, slowcore, black metal and more. The set also includes a previously unreleased recording from Cloud, along with new recordings from Samira Winter, Benjamin Shaw, Magana, Jack Hayter, Anthony Harding, Lorena Alvarado and more.

Everyone was given the freedom to approach any song they wanted in any way they wanted. Some roll beyond ten minutes, some barely make it to two minutes. Some skip passages or abandon the lyrics entirely but all celebrate the community of care and collaboration that Cloud and Practice Room Records began to develop in Smithtown, Long Island over ten years ago.”

Tyler Taormina AKA Cloud says of the project, “This has been an incredibly warming and strange experience over the past few months for Jamie from Audio Antihero and I to hear covers from our friends coming in. Each one brought to me a sense of nostalgia for the song being covered, when it was written/recorded or simply remembering the fact that the song had existed. And laced with that feeling was the comforting presence of a friend who was singing the new version, their interpretation of the tune many times actually better performed than the original versions, some of which date back to when I was 18 old. I’ve heard all of the covers once and had a really intense experience nearly every time I heard them. I’m not sure if I can hear them all again but I know the impressions they’ve left on me are enormous and speak volumes to the talent of the friends that I’ve made throughout the years.

I’m quite glad we did this for a few reasons, and I must say the main reason is to prompt these friends of mine to keep making as much music as they possibly can before we all get old and boring. Thanks everyone for contributing and for listening and supporting Cloud over the years. For new listeners, I hope that this compilation can serve as a guide to some of the tunes we’ve been brewing up over the years”.

Check it out on bandcamp

‘Me, Her & Lavender’ is the new, free single from Cloud’s Plays with Fire LP. The acclaimed album offers nine songs and 32 minutes of quiet optimism and greying nostalgia, mixing the wide-eyed naïveté of Jonathan Richman with the cold-weather pop of Yo La Tengo and the fractured soundscapes of Galaxie 500. Though operating on a DIY level, Cloud’s music has found praise and support from Pitchfork, Stereogum, GoldFlakePaint, Drowned in Sound, CLASH, Indie Shuffle,TLOBF, IMPOSE, The Alternative, Post-Trash, Nialler9, London in Stereo, The Grey Estates, KCRW, DIY Mag and BBC 6 Music. The single is accompanied by the exclusive non-album b-side, ‘Wild Flies, 25’.

Long Island’s Cloud (aka Tyler Taormina and friends) debuted for Audio Antihero in 2013 with the lauded Comfort Songs LP. A recurring theme of the new record is the passing of time. 2013’s Comfort Songs was an autumn-toned guitar record that saw Taormina coping with love and loss in his early twenties, while 2015’s dreampop-esque Zen Summer found him newly arrived in Los Angeles enjoying a warmer climate and better spirits, full of dreams and excitement. But Plays With Fire suggests that the colder months have come again, unsure of himself once again and afraid of the future.

With the years between records growing, Taormina sounds unsure of how many albums are still to come and of who is still listening. It’s an album that doesn’t appear to know if it’s a letter of introduction or a formal resignation, but it’s a perfect soundtrack for long nights and uncertain times. The polarizing voice remains, the sincerity remains, the sadness and the joy remain, but this is a new experience from Cloud.