Nothing If Not, an ethereal psych-rock band hailing from the depths of Indiana (or however they put it on their Instagram page)… aka that’d be Anderson, Indiana, you know… located between Ball State University (where David Letterman and Joyce DeWitt went to school) and Indianapolis, has a debut full-length called ‘Gutter Gardens’. The band draws heavily on the atmospheric, mind-expanding sounds of classic 60s-70s progressive bands like Pink Floyd and The Moody Blues, and combines them with some of that blues-and-dark-folk kinda thing, like early Zeppelin or a slight touch of Murder By Death. The album really grabs a hold of ya…. especially after a handful of gummies (mostly because we ran out of flower a couple months ago), and the lights dimmed in your apartment… which was the setting for me… oh, and some fucking snacks.
Nothing If Not is packed with extremely well-written songs… with poetic storytelling, so trying to pick out some songs that stand out on this release is kinda hard as the overall album is great art as a whole…. but here ya go with the three songs that I came back to on a few spins of this release. First off, “Broken People Factory” sets the stage for you into a dystopian atmosphere with hypnotic lyrics and that damn soaring guitar kicking in throughout. Next on up… “A Flag Half-Mast (Still Flies)” is a story that kinda made me feel like we’re all stuck in this nation, surrounded by fascists, and how we are coping… The song has gorgeous, sweeping instrumentation that wraps around those deeply introspective lyrics. Truly, so deeply poetic lyrics. Damn man… for real. Kick ass stuff. Lastly… the song “Isolation“… the first single off this release, which kicks into gear with a tight, punchy rhythm and sharp-ass hooks throughout, even a little of that SRV guitar riffage present, and lyrically it kinda touches on thoughts that crossed my mind during COVID, almost an agoraphobic kinda thing of how do I go back outside and see everyone and even go see a show again. That feeling of helplessness, yet still trying to remain strong for my family and friends during that time to bring hope and occasionally help bring laughter. Such a weird time back then. I mean, all the lyrics are up to you in your mind… and what you get out of it… a journey to the center of the mind…. and Nothing If Not is the captain of the ship. Damn… I think those damn gummies kicked in. Need more chips, I think.
Nothing If Not is a band from the heart of the crossroads of America, making waves right now in progressive psych-rock, with a touch of that dark-folk/blues thing from yesteryear, while touching on the current state of the world with some great lyrics/storytelling on this release. Not too bad for their first full-length album. Usually takes a couple of albums or so for a band to reach this level. Give it a spin today!!
Links of interest:
https://www.instagram.com/nothing_if_not_band
https://nothingifnot.bandcamp.com/album/gutter-gardens
