Artists You Should Know: Cloudbelly

If you find yourself instantly smitten by bands that busk at a crossroads of poignant folk and rousing indie-rock then Massachusetts trio Cloudbelly is here to fulfill the needs of your soul. Currently, they’re in the midst of an East Coast tour in support of their recently released second album i know i know i know, out now via Strange Library Records. The record serves as a reintroduction to a band that dwells within chambers flooded with refulgent melodies and the quieting heft of their heartfelt songwriting.

At the center of the nebulous Cloudbelly is Corey Laitman (vocals/guitar), a gifted singer/songwriter who deftly summons all the delicate warmth and vigor that their music gives voice to. Originally from New York City, they ended up in the Berkshires of Massachusetts after falling head over heels for someone from the area. That fateful decision to stay led to another fateful meeting — this time with fellow musician Anand Nayak — at Luthier’s Co-op in Easthampton.

Laitman was in the process of recording their second LP Seafoam and enlisted Nayak in its completion. Not long after their freeform collaboration turned into something more concrete, emerging as a duo called Cloudbelly and releasing their debut album Thou/Them in 2021 through Signature Sounds. The album’s title is a nod to both philosopher Martin Buber and a heady but earnest conversation the pair had about the transgender movement as an effort to unbox the multiplicity inherent in every individual.

Eventually, the two would part ways with Laitman inheriting Cloudbelly, their search for musicians to flesh out the band ending when they discovered Sam Perry (guitar) and Nate Mondschein (drums/production). With the help of Reed Sutherland (bass/keys/strings), they set out to create what would become the project’s most ambitious evolution since its inception, embracing in the process the propulsive spirit and cathartic clarity of Laitman’s lyricism.

The resulting record i know i know i know exhibits all the same empowering honesty of their previously lo-fi folk creations. Yet this time, a sonic urgency fuels Laitman’s impassioned words of love, grief, frustration, and reconciliation as they pick up the pieces of sundered relationships. There’s the pulverizing gallop of percussion and electrifying riffs that surge from “Fascinated” or the yearning rush of “November.” Elsewhere, they wrestle with the bittersweet dissonance of acceptance and weariness within “Handfuls” (the track bearing the mantra that serves as its title) and confront life’s unavoidable mutability on “Restless Things.”

Call us a sucker for the piercing folk that wears its heart on its proverbial poetic sleeve and you’d be right. We’re resigned to the fact that anything Cloudbelly led by Laitman releases next is going to continue enchanting us with its unguarded intimacy and melodic splendor. If you’re a devotee of artists like Katy Kirby and Angie McMahon then you owe it to yourself to bask in the gentle but sublime truths that crystalize on i know i know i know.

ARTISTS YOU SHOULD KNOW

BEST NEW MUSIC

Words: Steven Ward

i know i know i know is out now on all streaming platforms.

Visit Cloudbelly on their website, TikTok, and Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.

Watch the music video for “Handfuls” off the new album from Cloudbelly below!