Cloud

Cloud was an evolving band, collective, and solo project from Long Island’s Tyler Taormina. After first appearing for Audio Antihero on the ‘REGAL VS. STEAMBOAT‘ charity compilation for Rape Crisis, Cloud issued their first album through the label with 2013’s classic ‘Comfort Songs.’ Wildly creative, earnest and emotional, this Autumnal guitar record found fans in Pitchfork, Drowned in Sound, XFM‘s John Kennedy, BBC 6 Music‘s Tom Ravenscroft, KCRW’s Eric J. Lawrence, and Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins / Bella Union). After experimenting with new sounds, styles, and seasons on 2015’s ‘Zen Summer,’ the now Los Angeles-based Taormina returned to Audio Antihero in 2018 for his highly acclaimed finale: ‘Plays with Fire.’ The record was simultaneously his most experimental and concise, as well as his most confident and artistically vulnerable. Committed more to art itself than to any particular medium, Taormina’s expression and output soon shifted from music to film and produced and directed titles like ‘Wild Flies,’ ‘Ham on Rye‘ and ‘Happer’s Comet‘ as a part of the Omnes Films collective. His most recent film, 'Christmas Eve in Miller's Point,' was produced by Michael Cera, and opened in theatres on November 8th, 2024. It received praise from RogerEbert.com, AV Club, New York Times, Chicago Reader, New Yorker, and many others. Despite Taormina's success as a filmmaker, people didn’t forget Cloud. With the news that Taormina would be moving away from music, 34 artists (including Winter, Benjamin Shaw, Magana, and Candy Says, as well as Hefner’s Jack Hayter and Antony Harding) came together to give him a proper send-off with ‘The Desperation Club – A Cloud Tribute Compilation.’