Wild Nothing - Nocturne added to 2012 Recommended Albums

For certain people, the "dream-pop" label can carry with it a number of negative ideas. Ideas of sunbaked American students spending hours in dorms with MacBooks and the latest music editing software, writing songs about the girl they're too wet behind the ears to ask out at the cocktail bar. Moreso than that this new generation of indie songwriters are accused of being lazy and unoriginal, favouring the trend of soaking their guitars and vocals in reverb to hide the lack of substance to their work. Add to that the derivative nature that comes from the copy-and-pasted style thse bands follow and dream-pop becomes ripe for parody and ridicule.

The upshot of this genre's popularity is that when someone like Wild Nothing (aka the now Brooklyn-based Jack Tatum) comes along, a songwriter with integrity and charisma, he isn't slept on. Nocturne is the second Wild Nothing album, folowing 2010's sleeper success Gemini, and on surface level there maybe isn't enough change here to convert the typical dream-pop cynic. The most significant is the introduction of producer Nicolas Vernhes, who insures a professional touch to Tatum's otherwise homespun sound. Also of note from a sonic perspective is the influence of 80s British electronic acts such as New Order in some of the guitar/keyboard lines and occasional Stephen Morris-esque drum patterns. Much has been made of this, and it does serve as another usp for Wild Nothing, but you're not going to mistake it from a Factory Records album anytime soon. We are still firmly in the land of reverb.



The true asset to Nocturne is Tatum's capabilities as a songwriter, the moods and themes he creates through his aesthetic. Maybe it was supposed to be Gemini's darker twin - the first three track names "Shadow", "Midnight Song" and "Nocturne" seem to suggest so - but its breezy nature makes that idea a little hard to take seriously. Instead we're treated to songs about girls called Heather and Rheya, and told that "love is paradise" in the five-and-a-half minute centrepiece, the most ambitious track by a stretch. Not exactly dark night of the soul-like stuff. That's not to say these moments aren't rewarding in themselves, and that trio of openers does hold a more tortured presence under all the wistfulness. Take lead single "Shadow". Although the vocals are low in the mix (below some lovely string arrangement), they're not so indecipherable as not to catch such pessimism as "I'd go with you if you asked me to / but we wouldn't get very far, two strangers in the dark". It's a pop song in the Robert Smith template: couterbalancing the instrumental's glimmer of optimism with crushing lyrical blows, and it can't be helped to hang on to the lyrics from there, whether they're the sensual "you can have me"'s of the title track, or the aforementioned laments for "Rheya".

With Wild Nothing's gift for songwriting and extended instrumental and tonal pallette, Nocturne successfully bucks the "style over substance" argument for dream-pop out of the water. Although Jack Tatum's heart is still firmly stuck to his sleeve his lyrics, song structures and tasteful nods to his influences add up to a sincere talent, and there are enough musical ideas happening for the album to work satisfyingly well. Until now I found the closest thing to a varied dream-pop album to be DIIV's Oshin, released a few months ago also on Captured Tracks. And while that certainly isn't a bad album it takes something like Nocturne to show that with any genre there's no obligation to play by the rules when it comes to making an album. There's plenty to stake out on the fringes.

Wild Nothing - "Paradise"

The first Wild Nothing track to emerge from the upcoming Nocturne was the beautiful "Shadow" (see my June playlist). Now we have "Paradise" to whet appetites before Nocturne's imminent release date (27th August via Bella Union in the UK, a day later via Captured Tracks in the US):



Track all the info up to the release of Nocturne on the Upcoming Releases page.

Music Video: The Walkmen - "Heartbreaker"

Get the feeling this one was supposed to come before "The Love You Love", but whatever. And is it just me or have the Walkmen really gone off colour?

Music Video: The Walkmen - "The Love You Love"

Music Video: Beach House - "Lazuli"

The Video World of Father John Misty

This is a new feature I want to try to talk about new albums through the series of music videos released around them. For many musicians visual flair is important, and by working with their directors they can present their view of how they see their music illustrated, thereby creating a "world" for their album or artist persona to inhabit.

Father John Misty - Fear Fun

Anyone who has seen Fleet Foxes live (or at least seen recorded performances) will probably be aware of the presence of their drummer J. Tillman, who often brought a charm and humour to their set's shadier moments. This large personality, when coupled with the fact Tillman had released several solo albums prior to Fleet Foxes perhaps spelled the inevitability that Tillman would leave the band to focus on his solo work. Fear Fun is the first album to be released post-Fleet Foxes on Sub Pop Records, and also the first under the pseudonym Father John Misty. Let's take a look at the visual side of this reincarnation.

"Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings" (dir. Noel Paul)
 
Tillman himself is not seen much in this first video. Instead the focus is on Parks & Rec star Aubrey Plaza, who begins mischevious, bored, upset and self-destructive but eventually murders someone out in the open. The video introduces some of the main themes to be found in both the visual style and music of Father John Misty: namely the marriage of rural American iconography with effortless sleeze, cool and excess, shown here by the party scene. Tillman provides his own bare-footed cameo at the end of the video, setting himself up to be the central figure of this Tarantino-esque cool for later videos by slinging Plaza over his shoulder and into the back of his van.

"Nancy From Now On" (dir. Amy Cargill & Josh Tillman) 
 
Powerful images of womanhood are again leading the way in the video for the Bee Gees-flavoured second single "Nancy From Now On". This time a woman in fetish gear leads Tillman though a series of loving punishments including sitting on his face and cutting his hair ("Sim Sala Bim"?), before he gets bored with her and moves onto other women. Use of environment is key here, and a return from the downtown bar to the (open door) bedroom shows the eventual resolution, and matches the song's theme and lyrics perfectly.

"This Is Sally Hatchet" (dir. Grant James) 
  Easily my favourite of the three videos, "This Is Sally Hatchett" sacrifices the rural elements and pushes forward the underlying noir cinematography of previous videos to the forefront. There's a narrative that makes litle sense, starting with Tillman cutting off his finger with a pizza slicer and then target practicing in the restaurant's basement with a girl with back tape crosses covering her nipples. Every detail contributes to this twisted, noir image: the pentagram cut into the pizza, the poster for Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless, and most of all the closing shot of Tillman, with the shotgun, sunglasses and the cigarette being lit with a gun-shaped lighter.

Thoughts on Fear Fun
It's a really solid album, with a lot of variety in songwriting and themes, and great vocals and personality that's easy for fans of Fleet Foxes and American indie folk and rock to enjoy. Ultimately what lets it down for me is the production; although Phil Ek's mixing has bought Tillman's songs up to a professional quality Fear Fun sounds perhaps too shiny for the majority of the tracks. This worked well for Fleet Foxes previous studio album Helplessness Blues (produced by Ek), but I don't feel compliments the one-man rough-and-ready style of this project. Regardless it's still a very worthwhile listen and can be streamed in full below. It's out now on Sub Pop/Bella Union.