The young Philadelphia members that make up the philosophical shoegaze outfit Nothing have just released a second album titled Tired of Tomorrow.
It has some of the best and most powerful album artwork I have seen in quite a long time, and in celebration of the new release, Relapse Records is having a contest that invites people all over the world to submit a meme stating what they’re “tired of”.
Much like the music, this sounds wonderfully cathartic and a great way for listeners to find their personal connection to the album.
Members Domenic Palermo, Brandon Setta, Kyle Kimball, and Nick Bassett find themselves in this odd juxtaposed world where they are signed to a label that is primarily metal music, while being a Shoegaze band.
Those are two genres that have no business being in contact with one another, yet the four-piece meshes the two ever so slightly so that it can appeal to both audiences.
The band is still so new, having just recently gotten into the industry, and it’s clear that they are still trying to get over a learning curve.
The album takes the audience through the band’s own personal journey of finding their sound and what works for them.
Opening with Fever Queen, your body cannot decide whether it wants to solemnly sway or thrash itself against other people.
It begins with head-banging drums that tend to go on a little longer than they should, but they quickly settle down to reveal soft vocals that continue on into the beautiful tune The Dead Are Dumb.
This number opens with simple notes being plucked on the guitar that simultaneously pluck on the strings of your heart.
Although the song has captivating melodies and meticulous thumping drums it never goes anywhere and sounds almost confused, not knowing which direction to go in.
The band seems to try and find itself again in Eaten by Worms where they have a little mixture of Nirvana meets pop punk.
The break with the piano, although stunning, is simply out of place, comes in abruptly and doesn’t propel the song forward.
Oddly enough the group decided to delve into an acoustic song, Everyone is Happy immediately after the harsh Eaten by Worms and it throws the listener off balance quite a bit.
It’s great when a band adds in an acoustic number to relieve the listener and give them just a little break from what they’re used to, but Everyone is Happy does not compliment the other songs, and provides a very different experience from the other tunes.
Our Plague is a slow groove that has pop-esque guitars which shift the listener’s attention a bit, and it gives the audience some good space to breathe and see the different strengths that the band has.
The drums along with the lyrics are tender and have a steady pace to them that is pacifying.
Tired of Tomorrow is a piano ballad, which just like Everyone is Happy just feels like it was dropped in there without any reason.
It’s a beautiful song, but it just doesn’t work with the rest of the album and sits there awkwardly. That being said, had this tune been put on another album that took a more singer/songwriter approach it would have been the piece that completed the record.
All in all the album is good and they are all wonderful musicians, but Nothing has some hard work ahead of them trying to really find their sound and their niche.
It really feels like this album is them trying to figure out what kind of band they want to be, and letting the audience lead them in the right direction.
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