Review Summary: Out of nowhere, towards somewhere.
As eras come and go and the Sunday of life (sic) draws near, the succession of epochs drives people to reflect on what has come to pass, and what was gained and/or lost along the way. Critically acclaimed folks who have pushed the limits towards the bleeding edge in their domain of expertise are a special case, because media are always up for short and cynical fixes of shrewd reckoning. Serbian luminary Nicola Tesla is a notable example in that respect. In an interview with the New York Times short of a decade before his death, he posited that original ideas and logical leaps forward, can only be conceived and developed in some state of isolation, and that monetary wealth is more hindrance than leverage in that respect. The quip readily applies for the arts, even though it can be argued that world class artwork can either stimulate or stun innovation sooner or later, and that the surrounding socioeconomic environment can be supportive for so long, if at all (Tesla stood on both sides of that fence...). Hellenic experimental rockers This Is Nowhere appear to have adopted Tesla’s aforementioned quip, in the sense that they have been successfully shedding light to diverse aspects of their custom noise/punk/heavy rock/drone/psych domain, in complete and probably conscious disregard for the norms within the homeland and abroad. However, their latest album
Waiver signifies a tilt towards the mainstream, per the idiosyncratic way of the outfit itself.
For your reviewer, a steady fan of This Is Nowhere ever since that support affair for an Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats concert a long time ago, the sound work in
Waiver was the first indication regarding the flow of rock normal into the band’s delta. In all previous albums, noise was instrumental regarding the formation of the band’s shape shifting output, but the new album is markedly more hifi, whereas it establishes for the first time, a tangible border with the failed state of compression. In that light, the first few listens elapsed in disconcertion, which maxed at some point and then started to dwindle slowly but steadily; fortunately, This Is Nowhere have not forgotten how to convey their ideas into material of good replay value. However, they are quick to disclose that they have not tread a road less traveled, arrangements-wise; absent are the whimsical ways that made their past material interesting, for the most part. With the possible exception of the album closer, all tracks unfold in a linear way, as their backbone is mainly dependent on the classic riffs that defined punk and post rock, played at variable speed and count, along with a restrained delegation of the sort that hearkens to
Grim Pop, the immediately previous release. The above said, it’s not difficult to surmise that the drone element, omnipresent in past albums, has been noticeably toned down as well; a characteristic example is the track that concludes
Waiver, a mostly instrumental free-form jam format first implemented on
Grim Pop, which worked perfectly well at its role; herein however, the dynamics of the song, have been somewhat diluted as a result.
The fact that the new album has been derived from more conventional first principles, has a proportional effect on the partial output of each band member. While the delivery is flawless, the keyboards of Duru Duru amount to somewhat familiar, trivial even, motifs and backdrops, due to the limited room for disruption, arrangement/sound-wise. The same applies for the rhythm section of Bateman (bass) and Nick Negue (drums); while it serves the direction of the new album, it competes with the guitars for the biggest victim of the sound work. Rather unexpectedly, the lyrical content along with the superb vocals of Manuel POV, eschew what applies for the aforementioned album components. This is because, historically, Manuel’s vocals have always been the band trait closest to mainstream, due to their association to household names like David Gahan, Glen Danzig and Jim Morrison. The first three songs are total bangers, balanced by more atmospheric material as the album progresses; in the album highlight, explicitly titled “Awake=Exile”, lyrical work is all but a succinct storytelling of the reckoning that comes with straying from the common line. In the last part of the trifecta, Manuel is heard iterating the mantra “This Is A Waiver/Nowhere To Go”, which comes across as a declaration of the band’s free spirit and penchant for experimentation, but also an indirect admission of the limits that eventually come with such a disposition.
Although he remained prolific to the very end, albeit with far less resources, Tesla spent the last years of his life in obscurity. In view of the technological breakthroughs he brought to the fore, breakthroughs that are ever more relevant in the current century, to dub this outcome a travesty is a grave understatement. A cynic would argue that if he chose to play the corporate game and readily monetize his inventions, there’s no denying he would be the richest man ever and in an infinitely better position to achieve some of his allegedly utopian goals, but then again, Tesla made it perfectly clear that if he did so, he wouldn’t be himself. Some individuals or groups of people, just can’t work their way around their conscientiousness, the trait of being firm and disciplined in terms of self beliefs and values. Initial thoughts spurred by the title of the new album,
Waiver, brought in mind the third siege of Missolonghi, at a dire point of the Hellenic revolution against the Ottoman empire in the 19th century. The few combatants that remained in the city to fight, could have fled the premises along with the general population while they could, and live to fight future battles, but ultimately waived (sic) their freedom and livelihood, and held their ground. Brought to their knees only by hunger and disease, they stormed out of their siege and fought fiercely, so as to allow for a handful of folk to bring word to the country and Europe of the atrocities that had taken place by their besiegers, and eventually turn around the course of the revolution. The
Waiver of This Is Nowhere is not directly comparable to the aforementioned cases, however there is an analogy in the sense that the outfit, fully conscientious in terms of evolving between records, ceded a portion of its character, and exited its impervious, walled artistic enclave, out of nowhere, towards somewhere.
