Brighton’s three-piece rawk set Nothing (not to be confused with The Nothing, determiner fans) are obviously aiming for the tuneful end of post-grunge, but seem to have retained enough of a perverse sense of humour to name the first track on their latest EP ‘Cereal Killer’. Musically it does have something of the early Nirvana / late Mudhoney / Husker Du tone to it. Those are undeniably big boots to fill, but the start of ‘Vehicle Is A Word’ could easily be mistaken for a forgotten early-‘90s American rock gem, that is until singer Piers Blewett comes in with his understated London-Mk-II warble. Actually the vocals are not un-reminiscent of the vocalist for another Brightonian troupe Turncoat - perhaps something in the accent?
In terms of tense, reluctant indie-rock demi-anthems, though, it’s difficult to deny it in places like the repeated refrain of “do what the box says” on ‘Advert Eyes’ which, unlike many of their guitar-wielding contemporaries, does not resort to screaming like they’re gargling sandpaper to get the point across. Although you could argue that some of these songs would have difficulty standing up for themselves, it’s as assured and strong an EP as most bands could hope for.
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7Thomas Blatchford's Score