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Begin Again: The Continuing Story of Cloudbelly
Cloudbelly began one minute ago, sitting down to write this bio. It’s a story about how Cloudbelly began in 2020 as the pandemic drove everyone into isolation.
But the truth is Cloudbelly began back in 2017 when Corey Laitman (they/them) and Anand Nayak (he/him) saw each other perform at Luthier’s Coop in Easthampton, MA. An instant affinity with and trust in each other led to Anand helping Corey finish their 2018 independent release Seafoam. By late 2019 they had begun recording new material in between other projects. Then came the pandemic.
While in quarantine, Corey and Anand started working remotely; first on finishing what they had already started, then on a life-raft of new material Corey found through a months-long song-writing exchange with young friend and song- writing phenom Louie Phipps. A new sound started to emerge. A “kind of unashamed musical truth” (Annie Patterson, author of “Rise Up Singing”) with “layers of purity and decay... like something that unfolds and constantly reveals itself.” (Dave Chalfant of The Nields)
As the songs took shape, the collaboration began to feel more like a creative partnership than a typical artist/producer project. Setting what is possibly a world speed record for naming a band, they choose Cloudbelly in honor of a dear, departed parakeet. They made a music video outdoors, keeping their backs to each other. They began releasing two or three songs a month through Bandcamp.
By January of 2021, Cloudbelly had an album’s worth of material. With the western MA indie label Signature Sounds showing interest, they started working on how to be a live band, with plans to release the album in the fall. Then came the delta variant.
Scroll down to now, as 2021 draws to a close. The deal with Signature Sounds is back on track, hopes for a healthier future are on the rebound. Cloudbelly is continuing to begin, flight feathers coming in. Hoping to hit the clouds running when the ground appears again.
Corey Laitman cut their teeth as a songwriter in the Anti-Folk scene at the Sidewalk Cafe in the East Village, performing weekly in the early 2000s. They have made two albums, Grimace and Grace (2012) and Seafoam (2018), and was a 2018 Passim Iguana Fund artist grantee. A Western MA denizen since 2013, Corey lives in Turners Falls.
Anand Nayak has performed throughout the USA and Canada with Rani Arbo & Daisy mayhem since 2000. He has accompanied, performed and collaborated with numerous artists including May Erlewine, Heather Maloney, Alistair Moock, Jeffrey Foucault, and Pamela Means. He received a Grammy nomination for producing Alistair Moock’s 2013 album Singing Our Way Through. Anand lives in Florence, MA with his wife and children.
