CD: “Dance On The Backtop” by Nothing

Aug28

CD: “Dance On The Backtop” by Nothing

on August 28th, 2018 at 18:21

The story of NOTHING began in 2010 with a simple demo tape in a Philadelphia apartment. The project; which started as a therapeutic outlet solely for Domenic Palermo, snowballed into a polished machine with a chance meeting with guitarist/singer Brandon Setta and the eventual addition of Kyle Kimball on drums. Sharing a musical bond, the trio weaved melancholic tales of imprisonment, broken bonds and lost youth as the centerpiece for their 2014 debut, Guilty of Everything. The world post Guilty served as the focus for the entirety of 2016ís “Tired of Tomorrow” – painting a Schopenhauerian tragedy in vivid colour and sound. The album was produced by John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr, Breeders, Sonic Youth, Kurt Vile) who help take the band’s passion for the 90’s sound to the next level.

2018 sees the release of the band’s 3rd album and founder member Palermo first discovered the title; taken from ancient prison slang meaning a fight or hit during outside recreation, in the works of urban fiction writers Donald Goines and Iceberg Slim. Known for their popularity throughout the prison system, Palermo became acquainted while he was incarcerated, later finding it to be a symbolic interpretation of the album’s philosophy. “I’ve learned to bask in the absurdity of it all – in the chaos,” preaches Palermo. “There’s beauty in the confusion if you can learn to hold its hand.”

“Dance on the Backtop” is a colourful journey through an ever-changing landscape of sounds that pull you every which way; from the opening power of “Zero Day” with its shimmering effect-laden guitars that create a beautiful emotive wall of sound, to the beautiful meandering ‘Blue Line Baby’ – reminiscent of 90’s British Shoegazers Slowdive. The band are certainly no strangers to experimentation and are constantly striving at pushing boundaries to create new, enthralling compositions. The band’s creativity cannot just be found on the electric guitar as there are some hugely impressive sequences of powerful basslines, coupled with some exceptional drum parts. The band bring this all together with a team chemistry that seems to get the best abilities from each of them.

One of the standout tracks is the emotive “The Carpenters Son”, a seven-minute lullaby written by frontman Domenic Palermo that rolls at tranquilizer speed, telling the story of a very personal family tragedy. “My Dad was a carpenter for his whole life – he built things and he built me,” explains Palermo. “He struggled with addiction and anger and for a long time, and his idea of a fix was to use religion in a very similar and violent way. He left me peppered with too much reality for a young boy and subsequently also left me with an early disdain for Christianity. I often wondered how I could ever forgive a man whose sole purpose was to break everyone down around him. I lost him two or three years ago now. He was riding his bicycle in a storm and must have fell off; hit his head, went unconscious and slid into a ditch on the side of the road face down; where he drowned just 200 feet from his house.” “I’ve lost many people at this point in my life and this only felt like another, nothing more. I think the song really just speaks of the expectations of existence and how there arenít really many.”

The album is a staggering piece of work which impresses and astonishes with every listen. There has always been a market for this style of music which takes you away from the usual non-stick wallpaper music that we are forced to listen to everyday. The songs are something that you can truly get inside of and enjoy them for what they are, individual masterpieces bearing the soul of someone trying to recover from the detrimental effects of the past. You can feel the pain; but besides that pain, there is a relief that it is off, and the music acts as a healing process that regenerates and uplifts.

Track Listing
Zero Day
Blue Line Baby
You Wind Me Up
Plastic Migraine
Us/We/Are
Hail on Palace Pier
I Hate the Flowers
The Carpenters Son
(Hope) Is Just Another Word With A Hole In It

Nothing Tour the UK in December
02/12/18 : Patterns – Brighton (UK)
03/12/18 : Oslo – London (UK)
04/12/18 : The Bullingdon – Oxford (UK)
05/12/18 : The Fleece – Bristol (UK)
06/12/18 : Soup Kitchen – Manchester (UK)
07/12/18 : The Brudenell Social Club – Leeds (UK)
08/12/18 : Stereo – Glasgow (UK)
09/12/18 : The Cluny – Newcastle (UK)
10/12/18 : Hare and Hounds – Birmingham (UK)
11/12/18 : Joiners – Southampton (UK)