Nothing
Tired of Tomorrow
Relapse Records
Tired of Tomorrow, the new album by Philadelphia’s Nothing, is a blind plunge into a deep sea whose temperature is bathwater, but whose waves are turbulent. The Philadelphia band takes shoegaze and soaks it in the sonics of Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream and the ghostly haunt of The Cure’s Disintegration. The end product is a stunning expanse of emotion that devours the mind and wraps you up in its charismatic embrace. There’s an intensity at the music’s core that defies its genre, and might explain why a label known predominantly for its hardcore and metal roster, Relapse Records, is releasing it.
Dream pop that bursts. Shoegaze that stares you down until you cower. There’s a floral majesty in the in the guitar arrangements of “Nineteen Ninety Heaven,” or in “The Dead Are Dumb” that give these songs a heady weight not often found in this kind of music. “ACD (Abcessive Compulsive Disorder)” cranks up the distortion and splashes it around the room as vocalist Dominic Palermo purges his confessions within the hurricane of emotion. “Eaten By Worms” seems to have been birthed from the fields where Nirvana unearthed “Heart Shaped Box,” though it’s filled with less rage and more regret.
The record is a journey through a troubled soul in search of salvation, at least that’s the vibe it betrays. And after this cathartic trip that finds the quiet in the din and the noise in the silence, the final two songs bed down for an untroubled sleep. “Everyone Is Happy,” followed by “Tired of Tomorrow” recall Johnny Marr’s most brilliant work in The Smiths. Those pretty, poetic melodies that choked you up even without the addition of Morrissey’s voice. That title track, in particular, is a heartbreaking piano and string ballad that leaves you breathless. It’s as naked a song as you’ll every hope to hear, and it hurts with a deep expression of longing.
Before hearing this record I knew nothing of Nothing and now I can hardly listen to anything but Nothing.
