Some records chase answers. “Cloud Noise” leans into the not-knowing. The debut full-length from Long Beach’s Morning Eagle—out now via Setterwind Records—favors hesitation over resolution, erosion over release. Across eight tracks, Nicholas May builds slow, layered compositions that stretch emotional tension without resolving it, giving space to doubt, drift, and everything that lingers in between.
Nicholas May, the sole mind behind Morning Eagle, calls it “beauty in erosion.” There are hooks, but they don’t demand attention. There are emotions, but they arrive delayed. The sound is post-grunge by temperature more than structure—moody, self-contained, and often blurred. “Darker tones, more space, and a willingness to linger in the in-between,” is how May puts it.
The album opens with its title track, one of several moments where early 2000s alt-rock DNA bubbles beneath the surface. There’s a Jawbox nod in the riff, a CKY-inspired hand movement, and a solo that stayed because it couldn’t be forgotten. The self-production across the record gives it consistency, but not polish—May keeps the edges soft and the pacing deliberate.
At the center sits “Star,” a more traditional rock track by design, anchored by heavy guitars and a guest vocal from longtime collaborator Rahiim. “I wanted to write a straight-up rock song… I didn’t want to overthink it,” May says. Its emotional pivot comes not from clarity but resignation: “It moves from a feeling of confusion… to a kind of acceptance, like it doesn’t matter how you feel; does anything really matter?”
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The rest of the album expands that uncertain tone in different directions—sometimes louder, sometimes colder, sometimes stripped down to near silence. It’s a record that doesn’t chase momentum but builds a kind of internal weight through consistency, texture, and restraint.
Below is a full track-by-track breakdown from May himself.
1. Cloud Noise
This one came after I had already settled on the album title. I’ve always liked when title tracks kick off a record. The chorus came together really naturally while I was writing, but the intro riff is pretty much a direct nod to Jawbox. The solo started as a placeholder, but I couldn’t get it out of my head, so I left it in. The hand movement in the riff is totally lifted from a CKY song—I’m fine admitting that.
2. Star
I feel like Star is the glue of the record. It has a traditional song structure by design, but the power and weight come from the guitars. I wanted to write a straight-up rock song with what I think is a strong vocal delivery and lyrics. I didn’t want to overthink it. When I showed it to Yass (Rahiim), they immediately had some extra vocal parts they wanted to add.
Without getting too conceptual, Star can be seen as the song that intentionally follows Cloud Noise. It moves from a feeling of confusion—of not quite understanding what I’m feeling or being able to put it into words—to a kind of acceptance, like it doesn’t matter how you feel; does anything really matter? It’s still uncertain, but it’s about choosing to move forward despite that confusion.
3. Human2
I wrote Human2 right after we played our first shows. I noticed a lot of the older songs we were playing had too many vocal parts and I wanted to make something with a cool jam at the end. It was me getting out of my comfort zone lyrically but in some ways back into my comfort zone musically. I think I had a weekend where I listened to nothing but Crime in Stereo and wanted to do one of those talky-type choruses that was kind of dramatic but caught the emotion with conviction. I like this one alot. This might be the one I’d show someone if they asked what Morning Eagle is supposed to be.
4. Perennial
Perennial was the last song I wrote for the record. I had so many demos, but I knew I needed something completely new. I wasn’t feeling especially inspired at the time since I was deep in mixing, but I forced myself to start from scratch. I wanted to break the genre of the record a little and also build around a loop to push the vocals louder than usual.
5. Spirit
Spirit is probably my favorite song on the record. I’d been wanting to make something electronic with heavy auto-tuned vocals for a while, but it never felt right as a standalone track or on a shorter release. Once I started thinking about doing a full-length, the idea of breaking up the sequence with something electronic influenced made more sense. This one’s about my relationship with intuition, and learning to trust it even when it’s quiet.
6. Basejumper
When I first started writing for Cloud Noise, I was listening to a lot of Quicksand, Helmet, and Rollins Band. Basejumper was basically me trying to write something heavy and pairing it with lyrics I’d already written. I had a random day off in October of 2024, tracked the guitar and vocals, and then went out that night to see Unwound—which felt like the perfect way to cap it off. That was a good day.
7. Chain
Chain was the first song written for this record in June 2023 and serves as the thesis for the whole album. Like with Human2, I wanted something really fun to play on guitar. The original vocal track had different lyrics and melodies, but I ended up hating it. I reworked the song into what it is now. Maybe I’ll release the older version one day. It could have been on the last EP, but it felt like a strong foundation for the full-length.
8. Dogs
Dogs was another track that came together in the 11th hour. I’d been practicing guitar clean, just through the amp with my pedals off, and got the idea to close out the album with a softer song. It felt like the perfect way to peel back the layers of distortion throughout the record. The ending takes a sharp turn, creating a sonic contrast with the beginning and letting the emotion speak through the music. I used a Russian Big Muff on top of my normal signal chain and cranked the amp to really drive it home. The lyrics touch on a personal topic that’s been eating me alive throughout the making of the record, but I don’t want to elaborate on them.
