Nothing’s A Short History Of Decay is the Philadelphia quintet’s fifth album and as it gently shows you in on the easy lull of ”Never Come Never Morning”, we’d recommend that you don’t get too comfortable. Nothing is widely regarded as being a Shoegaze act and as you’ll find over the course of the next nine song songs, this label is something of a disservice to a band that is so much more.
The skittering classic jungle breakbeats in ”Cannibal World” attest that, yes, there is a dreaminess in the vocals and some of the guitarwork throughout. However, look beneath the floating melodies and you’ll realise that Nothing has as much in common with The Body as they do with Slowdive. Their savvy use of of breakcore elements add a gritty underbelly that juxtaposes the drifting guitars beautifully allowing light a shade and a beautiful transitional middle eight before squealing feedback brings us crashing back to close, it’s a lovely touch and one that wouldn’t have been so effective had Nothing not had one ear to the underground. Title track ”A Short History Of Decay” brings grandstanding, almost industrial beats but once again they underpin beautiful six-string tonal washes and textures. It seems that every time Nothing notices the listener drifting too far into dreamland, they intuitively slap them back to earth with deft use of urgent stabbing guitar motifs. ”The Rain Don’t Care” brings us down into an intimate melancholy albeit whilst looking up at the clouds on this track they remind me of several UK indie bands at once but it’s sprinkled with drifting Americana before it opens up into a beautiful sunny refrain for a few bars before the clouds set back in again. Nothing are very evocative in their use of tone, it’s expertly employed throughout and the mood of this album definitely keeps you guessing; on the gorgeous ”Purple Strings” in a way that reminds me of latter day Massive Attack with echoing keys underpinned with rich strings, yes, it’s beautiful but it’s layered with a darkness that creates an cleverly executed uneasy atmosphere. The upbeat rhythm of ”Toothless Coal” is rudely interrupted mid-flow by bars of stuttering noise and a bass line so crunchy you feel you could bite it. It’s moments like this that will delight both fans of Slow Crush and the output of labels like Hyperdub in equal measure. It seems that for every euphoric moment in the club on this album there’s the inevitable comedown. After this track’s grimey warehouse party rush, the party is over and you’re thrust out, blinking into the Sunday fog of ”Ballet Of The Traitor” a slow motion blur of a song and another stark contrast on an album that revels in this modus operandi. Nothing lifts the listener up and drops them down so many times during this album that it becomes quite dizzying, this however is a good thing and is why this band shouldn’t be just thrown in a box marked,”Shoegaze.” ”Nerve Scales” has more in common with Post-Rock when you listen beyond Domenic “Nicky,” Palermo’s vocal performance with yet another classic breakbeat employed to lift the track to its crescendo. The outgoing ”Essential Tremors” would be a classic Britrock farewell track if it wasn’t joined mid way by the kind of hyper-active guitar mangling you’d expect from Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo as it overpowers any notions of ending this record sweetly and rightly so, a predictable conclusion to a very unpredictable collection would have been disappointing at this point.
A Short History Of Decay is another fine example of Nothing’s innovative approach to soundplay and mood. Their knowledge of many different genres means that this album could have only been made by a band with their fingers completely on the pulse.
