Two EPs forming one album, (Vol 1 first streamed in the summer), this gorgeously paced, subtle country-inflected alt-folk release by the Montreal singer-songwriter brings his pure, high, haunting voice with poignantly vivid, droll lyrics about the self and the external world. Volume 1 is overall the more introspective, charting a sense of personal tragedy over the last four years since his 2020 album All For Nada, with opener Eye For An Eye, alongside the darkly humorous and gently self-defecating Fabricated Hedonist, or Hollywood (“I'll never go to Hollywood / I'll never be a star / I'm washed up and my home is here / Between the highway and the corner store”).
Nicol’s voice can variously be reminiscent of Art Garfunkel, or at other times Thom Yorke. The second volume points more towards larger issues, such as climate change and the flaws of masculinity, with the latter, Working On My Tan, evoking this ironic image: “I've been working on my tan / On the mountain in the cold breeze / Frozen rivers, stray branches / And me running freely”, to the former subject, in Simple Fires: “I don't want to throw away / My plastic castle sculpture / I glued it to the pavement / They pile up like jungle gyms / For kids to come and play / What are you trying to say / Take their fun away?” Supremely gentle of musical style with some glorious melodies and arrangements, but caustically potent and wry in lyrics, this is wonderfully strong, rich, resonant release. Out on This Nice Records.
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