Long Island’s Cloud (aka Tyler Taormina and friends) debuted for Audio Antihero with the lauded Comfort Songs LP. Taormina returns in 2018 with his new album Plays With Fire; 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.

‘Two Hands Bound’ is the album’s second single, full of guitars, percussion and harmonies, a giddy and layered cacophony about good and bad days. This beguiling and uplifting pop song is one of the loosest moments on the upcoming album but it’s not without its darkness. The single is accompanied by an exclusive non-album b-side.

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, The Grey Estates, KCRW, DIY Mag, The Burning Ear and BBC 6 Music. ‘Two Hands Bound’ was preceded by the free single,‘Wildfire’, with a video directed by Taormina.

Welcome to HeartSongs, our regularly scheduled (probably) look at songs and the people who write them. We spoke to Tyler from California’s Cloud about their recent single, ‘Two Hands Bound’.

“I wanted to create a song that addressed an immense amount of weight I felt at the time.  Specifically, the weight of those first few years into the real world and the work force was the most pressing struggle I had.  I was working in the restaurant industry at the time. 

My heart goes out to anyone who works in this environment— especially in the U.S.  Our relationship to work and to our jobs is increasingly complex and I wanted to focus on this relationship and it’s correlation with love and joy.  The song is very pointedly joyous and celebratory, an intention of solidarity.

The lyric I’m most proud of in the song is “Talking is also love”. At a point in time where the weight shifted on and off my chest and every successful attempt in relieving it came with a realization just like that.  When I listen to the song, all shades of green come to mind, like sun was poking through leaves.”

Two Hands Bound lyrics;

I fell so low

Some things you’ll never know

How odd to pray

Tried again the other day

C’est la, c’est vous

Got work in the afternoon

Born to die a thousand days

And, oh, to see what life remains

‘cause losing is a way of life

And building is another way of life

Says the man with his two hands bound

Says it all with his two hands

Man made me a wage slave

Time made me a gelatin

A day so nice

You can shake it off sometimes

And love is good

Mostly misunderstood

Like how we talk

Talking is also love

Born to doubt and see what it’s about

And, oh as I dance

I help myself to live

And if I don’t

To keep my self from loss

I lather a friend,

A vial of peppermint!

Says the man with his two hands bound

Says it all with his two hands

Man made me a wage-slave

Time made me a gelatin

Time made me a bitter one

An animal

An animal is what I’ve become