Experimental New Yorkers drop eleven minute new album.
What can you do in eleven minutes? Run a bath? Watch 20 videos on TikTok? Well, if you are YHWH (pronounced Yahweh) Nailgun you can fit in a whole eleven track album. Formed during COVID-19 in Philadelphia, but since relocated to New York. After a couple of EPs the band released their debut album 45 Pounds last March. That clocked in at a comparatively decadent 21 minutes for ten tracks. The sound was highly experimental but very intriguing. Elements of electronic music, punk ethos, mathrock and more out there hardcore noise moments fused together with a vocal style that could be best described as fragmentary.
The new album slices away any sense of waste, repetition and structure for the sake of it. Opening track ‘Ghost of Love’ fades in like the song is halfway through, leaving you with the feeling you have missed out on a chunk of it. This is perhaps the biggest problem with the album, whenever you do find something you like it is gone before you get a chance to get to know it. On the plus side you get some very distinct offerings where something new is always just around the corner. ‘Stillness Blues’ is an uneasy, queasy ride without any sense of a chorus.
‘Innocent Sigh’ dials back o the aggressive bursts of guitar and we are left with something a bit more Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds.
We would always rather listen to interesting and experimental ideas than derivative material that sounds like an identikit copy. Whilst this doesn’t achieve lofty heights , it isn’t boring and a wide array of interesting moments flit past. ‘Give Blood’ is a highlight. This album is crammed full off unusual drumming patterns, guitar sounds , blasts of keyboard and a vocalist growing into his style. This is a band to keep an eye on. So many ideas crammed into one album suggests a band that could have a really great release somewhere down the line.
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