Album Reviews

Still

Nouns’ second album is Still, the album was worked on for a year, releasing in 2014. The album’s first song Fourteen is a mostly ambient track, clearly showing that this is a much different album than the last. With the song ending by Hunter revealing that he was assaulted when he was 14, this album does not hide its dark themes and focus on mental illness. The album could be considered a concept album, since in the lyrics Hunter takes on the personality of different alter-egos, signing the lyrics on the Bandcamp page accordingly. I personally think the album is a large improvement over the first album, showing a much larger variety of sounds, and doubling the length of Still Bummed, although I feel the pacing of the album suffers from this. The album’s second last song I Still Want To Make You Proud is my favorite from this album, the song goes through many changes during its over 8-minute course in stark contrast to the shorter 1-3-minute-long songs of the last album. The albums closer But I Can’t Stay Here is the only one signed by Hunter himself, the song was recorded hours before the release of the album, and was planned to be a suicide note.

Album cover for Still: old picture of a mother with two of her kids in the grass with text outside of the image saying: Nouns Still.
Still's album cover
Album cover for Lonely Place of Dyin: A collage of black and white pictures mostly containing people. Text saying Nouns and Lonely Place of Dyin.
Lonely Place of Dyin's album cover

Lonely Place of Dyin

After a 7-year hiatus Nouns’ new album had a lot of expectations to match. The album is 24 minutes long and features 2 really long tracks. Both tracks are dedicated to people that Hunter has lost in his life, and they both want to capture the grief and eventual acceptance of their deaths: I wanted to force the listener into situations that they must meditate upon their sadness, and then meditate upon their relaase from this sadness… he says on his Bandcamp page. I feel like the album, while short, has a clear goal and achieves that goal perfectly.

While of Unsound Mind

While of Unsound Mind is Nouns’ latest album, personally it’s my favorite album of theirs. It’s their first full-length album since Still, which is an 8 year long break. The album encompasses a lot of different genres, it is by far one of the most experimental albums I’ve ever heard. Each song has so many sides to it, it feels like the album never settles on a specific sound. The album also stands apart from Nouns’ previous work with how many different instruments it has: trumpets, flutes, violins and even organs, despite this it’s also rich with electronic sounds and samples.

Trailer for While of Unsound Mind
Album cover for While of Unsound Mind: Picture of an old wedding, a couple is sitting in a car, there is writing on the car saying: Who's sorry now. People are dancing around the car. White text in the top left corner reads Nouns.
While of Unsound Mind's album cover

My favorite song

My favorite song from this album Lemurian Hyperstition, is an over 10-minute-long song, similarly to previously long songs from their last EP and “I Still Want to Make You Proud” from Still, it goes through many phases, in its first minutes it starts with a haunting electronic loop, followed by pianos, a sample of a modem starting, and then organs and even more instruments appear until they all distort completely. The distortion gets interrupted by the drums and guitars that seem to get the song on a normal track again until the vocals start chanting gibberish completely transforming the song again. By the 5-minute mark, descending into an ambient part, the song has gone through so many changes that it's hard to remember how it even started. This album should be a chaotic mess but somehow, it’s still cohesive. In my opinion While of Unsound Mind is the best rock album of this decade so far, and I highly recommend listening to it.