Any ears eager for the next best thing in indie­rock should bend towards Detroit, where they’ll find Touch the Clouds. The savvy quartet of players have a built­in chemistry after years spent banding around the fabled rock scene in Southeast Michigan, but have now turned their talents toward honing an impassioned indie­sound that’s as layered as space­rock but also as caustic and quick­cutting as post­hardcore, forging an uncanny bridge between a melodious pop and an urgent, edgy punk sound. Tough, tight, heavy and cathartic.

Their forthcoming EP on locally renowned Gangplank Records is named for a meteorite or a roughly shaped stone, a celestial artifact of mystery fallen from the sky and held sacred by those who discover it.

“It’s angry, it’s paranoid, it didn’t get enough sleep,” said singer/guitarist Joe Philips, of Baetyl. “…it drank too much coffee. It got up and did it again. It’s a reflection.”

Recorded with Adam Cox in the library of a decommissioned public school in Southwest Detroit, Baetyl, their third release, was recorded in ten hours on a weird, wild, inspirational Saturday afternoon in mid­2014. Mixed by Derik Lee, it was recorded live with limited overdubs and several lyrics written on the spot. Philips credits Dan Coutant’s “fastidious and accurate mastering…He provided a marvelous sanding and lacquer coat to (Lee)’s sculpture.”

Darrin Hunt and Joe Philips have continually collaborated on music, having served with Brian Galindo in the Detroit outfit Few And Far Between for several years. Brian and Nikkie were looking to start something new just as Philips was moving back to Michigan in 2012 and BAM. Here we are. Initial hangouts fused into jamming which fused into writing and then back to hangouts again. Eventually they found a complete electrifying spirit, together, finding their footing, sonically, and following their instincts, unified.

Baetyl will be available in Spring 2015 via Gangplank Records.