Welcome back to From the Vaults, the semi-regular feature where we dive back into the BEM archives to revisit some of our oulder releases. This week, we're winding back the spools over two and a half years to February 2016, and to the second full album release from
N.y.X. Do not adjust your set - it's
The News.
This is a really nice album cover but I can't think of anything witty for this caption, so I'll
N.y.X is an Italian experimental rock band, first conceived in Turin in the early 2000s and first heard on record in 2005 with their self-titled debut EP. Starting life as the multi-instrumentalist duo of Walter F. Nyx and Danilo A. Pannico, backed up by a healthy selection of guest performances on their 2009 album
Down in Shadows, N.y.X took on a third full member, the ever-enigmatic Klod, to produce soundscapes for
The News, and the guest sheet this time around is impressive, featuring both Adrian Belew and Trey Gunn (King Crimson (yes, that one)).
The News is a concept piece about, as the name might suggest, the news, and the chaotic, unsettling portrait it paints of our world, the strange light it casts on an already-strange reality. Each of the first five tracks is subtitled with a stage of one's morning routine - waking up, getting ready, and the newspaper read over breakfast to start the day properly. And what a start it is.
The News is an album of ups and downs - not in quality, we should stress, but in overall pace and tone. The interplay between intense rushes of sound and fury and lower-key moments of relative peace is by far the strongest feature of the album as a whole. The oscillation serves as an immensely compelling through line that reflects the ever-conflicting moods of news media - with so much information rushing in at us, how exactly are we meant to feel? Is the only reasonable reaction to laugh? I don't know, and N.y.X seem to revel in that uncertainty.
Composition-wise, the album's thick like a Sunday paper, with a heavy focus on soundscapes and atmosphere. It's full and rich without ever straying into extravagance or getting too cramped, and it's clear that the many, many elements of each song have all had thought and care put into their placement.
The News can be a challenging listen at times, but it doesn't force you to respect it, instead almost daring you to. Go on, it says. You can take it. And you absolutely can.
The News was well-reviewed - both
Shawn Dudley at Progradar and
Phil Lively at The Progressive Aspect gave it strong writeups, with the latter proclaiming it "proper stuff" and noting that it will push you out of your comfort zone, but you should let it, if you can. Veteran Russian music journalist Dmitry M. Epstein even gave it
five stars. "Such is our reality," he said. Strong words, but the music lives up to them.
The News is
available from the BEM webstore. And now onto... the news. Eh? Eh?
I'll get my coat.
Status Update
Dial is
out now! Shineback's triumphant second album is a masterwork of smart electronica, and we'd encourage you to check it out if you've somehow not done so yet.
Turning to the future, three weeks remain before the release of
Now We Have Power -
preorder now for a preview track download and for the earliest possible access to the new hotness.
Review Roundup
Two new reviews of
Dial came staggering into Elephant Towers this week.
Phil Lively's for The Progressive Aspect features a little snippet of interview with Simon Godfrey himself and some very spurious claims about the origins of our label, and is well worth a read. Jerry Lucky was also
kind enough to cover the album, declaring it a set of "great tunes with catchy riffs and singalong parts that at the same time run all over the place with brilliant sounding dramatic Progressive Rock signature elements" - proof positive, we feel, of Godfrey's mastery of genre blending.
