Philadelphia band Nothing first came to my attention through their collaboration with Maryland grindcore exponents Full of Hell. By means of digesting the Hell-boys extreme noise Nothing brought a little sweetness to that nasty recording. Nothing started as bedroom project back in 2010, but now main man Domenic ‘Nicky’ Palermo is accompanied by Doyle Martin and Cam Smith (Cloakroom) on guitar, Bobb Bruno (Best Coast) on bass and Zachary Jones on drums. Years of the cycle of recording and touring took their toll with frayed relationships with friends and family as well as ER visits and some substance abuse for (not) good measure. But here we are with album number five entitled A Short History Of Decay.
The songs essentially fall into two camps, noisy bangers with a very clear nod to My Bloody Valentine and downbeat affairs that swim in cleaner waters. Taking those first, the opening track ‘Never Come Never Morning’ has some delightfully toned guitars that shimmer and jangle as Nicky sings an aching melody. A hint of Sparklehorse and a dash of Wilco. Swooning slide guitar rolls over a dreamy wash of lightly tapped drums and a myriad of silky tones in ‘The Rain Don’t Care’. Lead track ‘Purple Strings’ has a haunting drift before the instrumentation sweeps in and washes you away on a soaring fountain of elegant strings courtesy of Mary Lattimore. Some sweet reverb on the drums brings a ghostly atmospheric as Nicky sighs a mournful melody in ‘Ballet Of The Traitor’. Crisp clipped drums pop and clatter underneath delicately picked guitars allowing Nicky to provide a breathy melody in ‘Nerve Scales’. The drums go full force towards the end in a most satisfying way.
Now for the bangers. ‘Cannibal World’ is beamed down from Planet Loveless grinding with a filthy drum n bass rhythm underneath a wall of distorted wavey guitars while the harmonised voices sooth. Clattering boom beats filtered through a busted speaker tease, before a wall of distortion tumbles down round you in ‘A Short History Of Decay’. It’s wonky and woozy and wondrous. ‘Toothless Coal’ layers up screeching guitars over choppy drums for a shimmering blast of dirty shoegaze goodness. Coursing through the same veins as ‘Creep’, ’Essential Tremors’ pulls on the emotions as Nicky reminds me of Glen Hansard with his throaty rasp. Erupting into a squall of distorted guitars and crashing cymbals the song ends with an epic twist.
Nothing are one of those bands that have quite the back catalogue of music, from a genre I thought I was an expert in. If I had truly investigated further back in the day, I might have found more gems to influence how my musical vision formed. This album sounds timeless and like it could have been made in the early 90s. With newfound interest in shoegaze from a generation who weren’t born when it first emerged, it’ll surely be well received.
