A Short History Of Decay

Description

Nothing has always been an unconventional band. Rebels of shoegaze who have reinvented this musical genre in their raw and incisive, American image. Marginal poets pouring their existential angst onto vast canvases of fuzz and reverb. Starting in Philadelphia in 2010 as a solo project in his bedroom, Nothing's music has always managed to capture the full complexity of the human condition, from explosive anger to whispered sadness. a short history of decay, the fifth solo album by Nothing and the first on Run For Cover Records, further expands this perspective, offering the most accomplished interpretation of Nothing to date. The band has never sounded so powerful, never been so intimate, never been so authentic. With the strongest lineup of Nothing now consisting of guitarist Doyle Martin (Cloakroom), bassist Bobb Bruno (Best Coast), drummer Zachary Jones (MSC, Manslaughter 777), and third guitarist Cam Smith (Ladder To God, also a member of Cloakroom), singer-songwriter Domenic 'Nicky' Palermo knew he had the perfect musicians to create the band's most ambitious album to date. Co-written and produced with Whirr guitarist Nicholas Bassett, and featuring additional production and mixing by Sonny Diperri (DIIV, Julie), a short history of decay is the most accomplished work in Nothing's catalog. Tracks like "Cannibal World" and "Toothless Coal" are cataclysmic outpourings of industrial shoegaze sounds, evoking My Bloody Valentine, in a more extreme form. In contrast, the song "Purple Strings," with its ornate melancholy, offers a beautiful string arrangement featuring harpist Mary Lattimore, who has collaborated with Nothing twice. This baroque delicacy permeates other tracks on the album, including "The Rain Don't Care," a melodic ballad that evokes the quaint elegance of Mojave 3, and "Nerve Scales," an upbeat pop song that recalls Radiohead with its blend of supernatural atmosphere and realistic precision. Palermo describes this new album as a "final chapter." Not the end of Nothing, but the conclusion of a story that began with the band's first album, Guilty of Everything (2014), another album about time, regret, and confronting disturbing truths. a short history of decay is as much a reminder of Palermo's past as it is a leap into the future of Nothing.