Album Review :: NOTHING - Tired of Tomorrow

NOTHING

Tired of Tomorrow

May 13 2016 (Relapse Records)

7/10

Words: Richard O’Hagan

To say that this record, the second from Philadelphia shoegazers NOTHING, had a difficult gestation would be to understate things rather a lot. Indeed, there’s not enough space here to relate all that Domenic Palermo and co went through during the making of it. Imagine how you would feel, though, if you signed a record deal with a label run by a well-respected member of the alternative music community such as Thursday/No Devotion frontman Geoff Rickly, only to find that said label had been financed by notorious hedge fund manager, profiteer and all-round nasty guy Martin Shrekli? You’d probably end up sounding a damn sight more pissed off than NOTHING sound here.

In fact, though, this record would be a better one if the band did sound a little more pissed off. From the gently growing opener ‘Fever Queen’ to the gently lulling title track at the end, this is a very mellow record indeed. Anyone who loved their Record Store Day offering ‘Vertigo Flowers’ (also featured here) will know that NOTHING stand at the furthest edge of shoegazing anyway, but there are tracks on here – such as ‘Nineteen Ninety Heaven’ – which are less ‘shoegaze’ and more ‘shoefallingintoatrance’, they’re that laid back. This means that, at times, ‘Tired of Tomorrow’ all gets a bit too comfortable and unchallenging to listen to.

That said, there are certainly some redeeming moments. Best of all is where the band get their inner Corgan out and go all Pumpkins on the oddly titled ‘ACD (Absessive Compulsive Disorder)’, which dips and sways like one of Billy C’s stable of wrestlers and which, frankly, you won’t want to end. ‘Curse of the Sun’ operates in a similar vein – except that you really do what this to end, because that’s almost the best bit, a clanging, shuddering halt that leaves you wanting more of what was already a pretty decent number.

In short, NOTHING might be tired of tomorrow, but they seem almost too chilled-out about today.