A New Dawn Fades I Can See The Nightbirds Label: NFI / Alone Release Date: 01/09/07

A New Dawn Fades (yes that is a Joy Division reference) are a two-piece from Richmond Virginia, who has been kicking jams out for a while. The Guitar player P.J. Sykes loops mathy riffage reminiscent of Slint and Cancer Conspiracy, over each other, to form walls of sound. His ability to write those slightly discordant/oddly melodic riffs that sound amazing and you can’t figure out why, just mock you because you know you can never write something so good.

He also plays bass, trumpet, piano, and percussion on the album to fill out the sound. The drummer Nathan McGlothin is plain and simple, a pure beast on the drums. Whether he is pounding out a simple beat to, or a complicated polyrhythm on some instrument you’ve never heard, he is always sounds like he is banging everything out with 1000% conviction and a force that makes you wonder how he doesn’t break everything he sets his hand off.

The new album I Can See The Nightbirds, is nine-track, 23-minute adventure through to two member’s minds. The album covers more ground than most bands can hope to do in 5 albums. From song-to-song melodies transform from mathy buildups to looped ambience to post-rock like crescendos and peaks. Every riff and idea on the album develops and changes with deliberation, nothing is played for too long or too short, and all the songs flow into each other, distinctly their own while being connected still. Nothing is played for its own sake; every note has a musical purpose. When people say an album is “mature” I think this is what they are trying to say. Although I’m not sure if the album has a story, but it sure feels like it. The album ends with an acoustic guitar and violin played Melissa Sunderland slowly dancing around each other in lament of the end of the album, like a story coming to an end, and a somber funeral being held. To conclude, it’s one of the most original and listenable records to come out in a long time, from one of the most original and listenable bands to come out in a long time.

Buy this record it’s amazing, and P.J. and Nathan are some of the nicest guys I’ve ever met…..and see them live, it is mind-blowing. I promise.

A New Dawn Fades - Myspace

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 10th, 2007 at 11:29 am and is filed under CD/LP. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.