By: Kayleigh Drake

I’m a simple girl. I like sunsets, long walks and bands with wall-of-sound guitars. So it only makes sense that I’m a Nothing fan. 

Nothing, as in the five-piece shoegaze band with a self-professed “un-Googleable name,” based out of Philadelphia, but which features our very own local Birmingham musician, Cam Smith (also of Ladder to God and Cloakroom), on guitar. 

They just dropped their fifth studio album, A Short History of Decay, on Feb. 27. It’s their first full-length since 2020’s The Great Dismal, so that’s pretty cool. But what’s even cooler is that our very own local physical media emporium Seasick Records has an exclusive pressing of it on lemon glitter fizz vinyl (yes, it looks as fabulous as it sounds). As in, Seasick is the only place where you can get this variant. And you can grab a copy right here!

Cooler still, Nothing is playing a show with Cryogeyser, Full Body 2 and Violent Magic Orchestra at Saturn on March 8. There’s still tickets as of this moment, but there probably won’t be for long!

Anyway, back to the album. It’s a relatively short one, with nine tracks in total. To be extremely transparent, I kind of struggle to look at the album art. I have a weird thing about teeth, and they feature prominently (and somewhat jarringly) on the cover. But given the name of the record, it actually totally works. I just have to kind of glaze over it every time I pull the album up to listen on my phone — which, due to the abundance of bangers, has been pretty often. 

Speaking of bangers, this album has some REALLY good ones. On the flip side, there are also, admittedly, a couple songs that aren’t my cuppa tea. But that’s mainly because they’re not the “traditional” loud, shoegazey, wall-of-sound-y Nothing that I’m used to. I kinda tend to do this with bands a lot: I’ll fall in love with the sound of their first couple records, and then completely tune out as soon as they start experimenting. Maybe that’s because I’m a Taurus and I’m stubborn about my preferences. But either way, bands are, in fact, allowed to experiment with their sound as they see fit. And Nothing’s no different. While there’s plenty of shoegaze going on in this record, there’s also a bit of “unconventional” material. 

Like the opening track, for example. When you hit play, the first thing you hear is an acoustic guitar with singer Domenic Palermo’s breathy vocals atop it. You think, “Okay, so maybe they’re going in a different direction. Maybe they’re eschewing their Jazzmasters in favor of Martins for this one.” While the drums and other instruments eventually join the group, you end the song thinking the effects pedals are likely sitting this album out. 

But by the time you get to track two, you’re like, “Nope, they’re definitely here.” 

Like the yin to the yang of the first track, “Cannibal World” hits you like a train with an immediate wall of soaring, fuzzed-out electric riffs set against an abrasive, industrial-y drum machine. It’s like Nine Inch Nails suddenly showed up to the party. But then around 2:50 they’re like “peace out,” as the vibe immediately shifts to a much cleaner (albeit very reverby) tone with regular-degular drums. But that only lasts for like 45 seconds, then it’s back to the machine, which carries through to the end of the song. (NIN must have forgotten their jacket, came back to get it, and then ran into some friends before they left.) 

Next up is the title track (“A Short History of Decay,” in case you had a brain freeze), which is one of my favorite songs on the whole record. (And it happens to be our Substrate Song of the Week!) This song starts a trend throughout the album in which a looped (and often high-pitched) guitar lick runs underneath the main riffs to create a My Bloody Valentine “Only Shallow”-esque sound. (And if you know me at all, you know that being similar to MBV is a very good thing in my book.) Needless to say, the wall-of-sound effect is in FULL force here. 

That’s followed up with “The Rain Don’t Care,” which — while it’s not a bad song — is probably my least fave on the album. There’s nothing wrong with it, per se. It just didn’t grab me like some of the other songs did. It’s a slower, sparser and zero-fuzz number with prominent piano and an almost alt-country twinge to it. But like, I’m not listening to Nothing to hear that kinda thing, y’know? I want the loud, noisy shit. 

Similar situation with the next track, “Purple Strings,” another slow song that brings us back to the acoustic guitars paired with more piano licks and (fittingly) a string section. Like the previous song, I wouldn’t necessarily call it a skipper, but it didn’t really grab my attention. (Maybe it’ll grab yours though?)

“Toothless Coal,” however, definitely commanded my attentch in the best way, and it’s another one of my faves. Here, we start things out with a screeching guitar loop that’s even more reminiscent of “Only Shallow” than the previously mentioned title track. It weaves through the intro and pops back in and out throughout the song, while the instrumentation brings us back to those thick, distorted riffs we know and love. 

“Ballet of the Traitor” goes back to the reverby, downtempo energy. This is the final entry in the “non-noisy slowcore song” log, although I do enjoy it a bit more than the other two. (That may or may not be partly because it has the word “ballet” in it. Fun fact, I took ballet lessons for 10 years in my youth. So, hashtag nostalgia. Also, fuck what Mr. Chalamet said… ballet is cool af.) 

And then comes what is, in my opinion, the magnum opus of this record: “Nerve Scales.” This song is so good, y’all. It starts out with a noodley intro riff (which repeats over and over with slight variations through the entirety of the song) paired with a sparse, almost trip-hoppy drum beat. But it’s one of those songs that gradually builds in intensity as you listen. (These are some of my favorite kinds of songs.) Around the 3:25 mark, things pick up the pace and get pretty fuckin’ dreamy. From that point through the end of the song, it’s the same two-chord progression over and over, but with some really gorgeous reverby slides going on in the background. (Or maybe it’s a pedal steel? Either way, I love it.) It’s the kind of music you can zone out to — but in a really good way. I actually listened to this song multiple times in a row while on my afternoon Hot Girl Walk at Vulcan Trail today, and it was playing as the sun was setting and washing the skyline in a beautiful peachy hue. (I was also ever-so-slightly toasted off some greenery, which added to the ~vibes.) It was a perfect moment, honestly. 

And if you thought I was done talking about that song, think again. So, I’ll preface this next part by saying that I’m not exactly the world’s best lyrics decipherer. But there’s this line — “It blurs it out” — that repeats in the chorus at multiple points throughout. And when I was listening to this song on my aforementioned walk, I initially heard it as, “Where does it end?” And, as a millennial woman living through a nightmare of an administration during what seems to be the end stages of late-stage capitalism, reading horrifying new headlines on a near-hourly basis, that stuck with me. Because really, where does it end?

I can’t answer that, unfortunately. But I can answer the question of what the final song on this album sounds like. We close things out with “Essential Tremors,” a song that starts with a slow and simple guitar-and-vox-only bit, bringing the drums in around the one-minute mark. And then, kind of out of nowhere, the wall-of-sound riffs come back in for the last minute-and-a-half or so of the song as a grand finale. 

So, all in all, does this record have a few slight snoozers? Yeah. But does it also have some absolute one-two-three repeaters? Also yeah. Basically, when this record is good, it’s REAL good. And that, to me, overpowers the weaker songs of the bunch. I mean, if I could go back to the first time I listened to the last minute-and-a-half of “Nerve Scales” while walking the trail at sunset, well… I’d replay that moment over and over. 

You can listen to A Short History of Decay here, and if you like what you hear, then stop by Seasick and snag it on that beautiful glittery yellow wax. It’ll make a stunning addition to your collection, that’s for damn sure!