Crack Cloud today share the title track from their forthcoming second album, Tough Baby. The follow-up to their LP debut, Pain Olympics, it arrives Sept 16th on Meat Machine, and via their own Crack Cloud Media Studio in North America. The band recently finished a tour with Osees and today announce a further run of European dates. The accompanying video for ‘Tough Baby’ takes the viewer through a history of the species and explores neurosis – all in the search for peace and tranquillity.
On the new single, Crack Cloud say “Our body of work has been largely informed by some of the darker chapters in our lives; we’ve taken a moment to examine beyond that in Tough Baby. The potency of the imagination, the magic and mystery of our world and its history from an adolescent gaze. We wanted to fall in love with our craft again by recalling the mysticism of our youth.”

Tough Baby is a life-manual for the listener. The opening track ‘Danny’s Message’, which has two key lines, seemingly recorded on a dictaphone. One is an entreaty: “I hope you guys can learn a lot from what I’m trying to tell you.” The other, a command: “Music is an excellent way to let your anger out, put it all on paper.” The voice is that of Danny Choy, the father of Zach. Danny was fatally diagnosed with Leukaemia at 29. Zach explains: “Before he passed, he left behind a wealth of poems, song transcriptions, carvings and audio journals for my family to remember him by.”

On Tough Baby, there’s another focus taking shape, one that was not fully realised on Pain Olympics. Zach explains, “we made that album with no expectation of making another.” Maybe that expectation lent Pain Olympics its febrile, combustible atmosphere. But the world moves on, and Tough Baby is moving with it. The new record reflects Choy’s point that “we are always maturing emotionally with our experiences, and so how we understand and express them evolves over our lifetime.” There is a sleekness here: cinematic dreamer music that takes in the street romanticisms and seedy cruises of classic alternative pop. Indeed, the record could be a brilliant C21st riposte to the likes of The Pogues, the Blockheads, Roxy Music or Armand Schaubroeck. ‘The Politician’ could be a search party sent out to find The Bogus Man after 50 years.

Tough Baby contains music to think to, music with which to educate, agitate and organise. Zach says, “the name Tough Baby is an allusion to our Planet. To our Culture. And to our Selves.” It’s made to remind us that whilst we are all in the gutter to some extent, some of us are looking at the kerb.

Crack Cloud 2022 Tour dates:

July 7th | Trencin, SK – Pohoda Festival
July 10th | Vienna, AT – Fluc
July 11th | Pordenone, IT – Ex Convento San Francesco
July 12th | Ravenna, IT – Hana-Bi
July 14th | Schorndrof, DE – Manufaktur
July 15th | Leeuwarden, NL – Welcome To The Village
July 16th | Herk De Stad, BE – Rock Herk (5pm slot)
July 16th | Nijmegen, NL – Valkhof (11pm slot)
July 21st | Binic, FR – Blues and Folk Festival
July 22nd | Suffolk, UK – Latitude Festival
July 23rd | Hebden Bridge, UK – Trades Club
July 24th | Cardiff, UK – Clwb Ifor Bach
July 25th | Guildford, UK – The Boilerroom
July 26th | Cambridge, UK – Mash
July 30th | Brno, CZ – Pop Messe
Oct 19th | Edinburgh, UK – Usher Hall (with Pavement)
Oct 21st | London, UK – EartH
Oct 22nd | Manchester, UK – White Hotel
Oct 23rd | Bristol, UK – Strange Brew
Oct 24th | Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
Oct 25th | Brighton, UK – Chalk
Oct 27th | Paris, FR – Trabendo
Oct 28th | Lyon, FR – Marché Gare
Oct 29th | Amsterdam, NL – London Calling
Oct 31st | Brussels, BEL – Botanique @ Rotonde
Nov 2nd-5th | Reykjavik, ISL – Iceland Airwaves
Nov 5th | Berlin, GER – Pitchfork Music Festival Berlin @ Betonhalle
Nov 8th | Hamburg, GER – Molotow
Nov 11th | Leipzig, GER – TransCentury Update
Nov 13th | Kortrijk, BEL – Sonic City
Nov 14th | Orleans, FR – Astrolabe
Nov 15th | Rennes, FR – L’Antipode
Nov 16th | Poitiers, FR – Le Confort Moderne

Pre-order Tough Baby on vinyl by Crack Cloud HERE