Nation of Language

One Liner: Brooklyn indie rockers channeling the 80's

Wikipedia Genre: indie pop, post-punk
Home: Brooklyn

Poster Position: 19
Weekend One Only.  Friday.

Thoughts:  More 80's!  Thank God!  I was worried after listening to a few bands/artists recently who weren't throwbacks to the 80's!  I say that, but this is probably my favorite of all the 80's throwback stuff on the poster so far.  It has more of a new wave feel, and less of a 80's dance thing.  More Devo and old Depeche Mode and less Debbie Gibson and The Human League.  Not too many streams, but I guess they are on the bottom third of the poster...

Three dudes - Richard Devaney, Aidan Noell, and Michael Sue-Poi.  They are from Brooklyn, which totally fits.  Mustachioed triple IPA brewers.  Indie 80's pop players.  Pickled acorn popcorn makers.  Two of the guys came from a band named Static Jacks, and Devaney has said that the inspiration for the entire band was "Electricity" by Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark.

Yep - that absolutely fits.  Also, that song jams.

First single came out in 2016, and after that they churned a bunch of singles until 2020 when their album Introduction, Presence collected a bunch of those into a group of ten songs.  One more album - A Way Forward - in 2021, and then two singles since then in 2022.  I feel like it has been playing for me for a few hours, and I'm enjoying it.  The top track is from that 2020 album, the album closer in fact, and it has some Cure guitars and driving War on Drugs synths.  2.6 million streams.

I like it.  I don't know that I really notice much difference between the two albums - which sort of makes sense because they were only released a year apart.  Maybe there is more emphasis on the bassist than before, so its a little funkier.  The top track from that disc is "Across That Fine Line," with 1.3 million streams.

Hear that bassist going to town in there?  His vocals sound like he's a British dude.  Which is odd.  But I really like that song.  Reminds me of one of the Cure remixes on that album of remixes I got in college.  I like a danceable indie rock tune.  The album opener - "In Manhattan" is a little nerve-wracking, and although it is only 3:53, I looked at the time because it felt like it had been going for twice that.

Despite my general annoyance at the 80's redux thing, I actually am enjoying this one.  I'd go check them out.