Cream Premiere: Meadownoise Rolls With It in 'Cliff House Kids'

Matt Glassmeyer is a longtime MVP of Nashville's widely variegated music scene, who you've heard playing with Lambchop, Cortney Tidwell, The Wood Brothers and the topflight experimental outfit Hands Off Cuba, among others. Though many of his credits are for playing wind instruments, his talents are many; he even invented his own percussion instrument, the shuitar, based on a guitar body.

A few years back, you might have heard Glassmeyer playing inventive, meditative, keyboard-centric music around town under the name Meadownoise. So far, two records have come from that project: 2013's It's 4:00 and 2014's Dark Digest. Meadownoise shows have been scarce in the ensuing years, but Glassmeyer has been at work on new Meadownoise music nonetheless. A couple of weeks ago, he released an EP called Cliff House Kids, a preview of a new full-length called Threeve that's set to be released jointly by Michael Eades' YK Records and Pets Musical Park later this year.

Among the key inspirations for Threeve are Glassmeyer's memories of growing up in a city that has changed profoundly in some ways, if not in others. (You may have read an essay he wrote a few years back on Bloodline, Kenny Rogers' backing band, of which his father Steve Glassmeyer is the keyboardist.) Glassmeyer's approach isn't straightforward narrative, though. He's got an array of gear, techniques and collaborators (including Adam Bednarik and Ryan Norris from the Hands Off Cuba/Lambchop/Coupler nexus, and Tye Bellar and Seth West from synth outfit Financier) to help turn his lingering memories into universal sensations.

Today, we're very pleased to premiere the video for “Cliff House Kids.” The cameras of directors Katja Raine and Kris Nardoan follow a collection of plastic balls careening around a brightly colored, undulating landscape. The balls move about, maybe tracing the echo of a long-gone skater — some subtle clues suggest that the setting could actually be Two Rivers Skatepark. Glassmeyer strings together impressions, singing over mellow piano chords and a propulsive rhythm section: “Families and their routine / Hanging from the same ropes / Family when their hair is blown / Dusty, hot, high desert / Cliff house kids.”

Check it out above, and visit the Meadownoise website for more details and updates on the album.