No Age
An Object
Sub Pop
I saw No Age play in Dublin with Mika Miko wheny Skinny Wolves put them on in the Boom Boom room 6 years ago. The Boom Boom room was opposite the rotunda hospital, north dublin’s maternity hospital. I’m sure some babies were born that night to the strained noise of no age and I wonder if we will have a collection of teenagers on this forum in years to come dabbling with music as an art form. I loved both bands on the night and whilst mika miko were more straightforward in their offerings no age offered up a substantial sound. This is their fourth album since those early days.
First thing to notice this album by is the colour scheme. Illuminous orange and green – colours that blend and clash and whilst being aestethically pleasing can also be difficult to read at time. That nearly sums up No Age’s sound. Full of layers, tunes and riffs in there hidden behind the noise but also sometimes haunting. Not making it too easy on the listener. But still easy enough to capture your attention. It is art for the ears.
Like a painting on display in an art gallery the crowds viewing it can have different notions and ideas. It’s the same picture but our eyes can interpret the colours and layers in different ways.
From the riff laden, layered sound, with vocals at different levels we can draw many conclusions from these songs. With no ground starting off and asking “Does anybody Really Care” we have 29 minutes of various tones and fuzz laden dreams. An Object has its haunting parts too, ‘running from a go-go” brings us on a melodic yet haunting journey that has Dean singing the line “I don’t want to be alone again” which has me wondering what life is really like in a sucessful band? Commerce, Comment, Commence finishes our half hour with a layered expolosion of noise.
I love albums that take as long as a soap opera on tv. There’s always time to fit them in. You don’t need to pick out a few songs you can deal with the whole record in one sitting. That’s the best way to capture no age. Sit back, open your mind to the layers of sound and enjoy, better than Fair City any day.
track by track – a lazy synopsis
no ground – riff down, layered vocals and sound – “does anybody really care?”
I won’t be your generator – softer song, noise pop
C’mon Stimmung – faster, layered sound
Defactor/ed – beautiful, yet slightly eery riff – discontent
An impresssion – softer composition with strings
Lockbox – heavier, tuneful
Running from A Go-G0 – journey, melodic and haunting
My Hands, Birch and Steel – haunting
Circling with dizzy – riff layered
A ceiling dreams of a floor – dreamy
Commerce Comment Commence – dreamy and haunting, layered explosion of noise
niallhope
