Nothing : a short history of decay
The music made by Philadelphia shoegazers Nothing has long been steeped in melancholia, a mood quite possibly informed by the considerable degree of ill fortune the band, and in particular frontman Dominic “Nicky” Palermo, have experienced. A year after the group released their critically acclaimed debut album, Guilty of Everything, in 2014, Palermo was brutally beaten by a group of men following a show in Oakland, causing degenerative brain damage. And after recording second album Tired of Tomorrow mere months later for an expected release on Geoff Rickly from Thursday’s Collect Records label, the band were faced with little choice other than to return to Relapse after it emerged that Collect was being financed by “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli. Around that same time, Palermo’s father died in a bike accident and then-bassist Nick Bassett’s mother also died unexpectedly. Undeterred, they soldiered on by releasing their then-finest work, Dance on the Blacktop, in 2018, an album shot through with a mood of cautious, hard-won hope, before going on to surpass that record with the heavy, overdriven The Great Dismal two years later. With their latest, a short history of decay, the band delivers an album described as “on one level, a documentation of [the] decline” Palermo has been experiencing through “the onset of essential tremors, a [hereditary] neurological disorder similar to Parkinson’s disease that causes the body to shake uncontrollably, both physically and verbally.”
One of the most striking things about the album, particularly in comparison to The Great Dismal, is how low, close, and soft Palermo’s vocals are, possibly as a reflection of the vulnerability inherent in the album’s themes. This is evident from downbeat, understated opener “never come never morning,” whose Foxing-esque acoustic and electric guitar lines are gentle and melodic, as Palermo sings of his longing for a time when he “was young” and “life was easy.” Whilst “cannibal world,” the title track, and “toothless coal” are dominated by the sort of noisy, overdriven guitars (with the addition of a third guitarist a wise move in that regard) that made the band’s last album so great, the lead vocals still have this ghostly, soaring, other-worldly quality to them that was largely absent from that record. Yet as one might expect, the greater emotional weight to the vocals is more obvious and prominent on soft, mournful songs like “the rain don’t care,” the violin-dominated “purple strings,” “nerve scales,” and “ballet of the traitor,” the latter of whose lullaby-style pace and tone recalls “The Carpenter’s Son” from Dance on the Blacktop.
The album’s two contrasting and alternating musical styles are synthesized perfectly on closing song “essential tremors,” which starts off with gentle, plodding bass, drums and rhythm guitar, as Palermo confesses that he is “running half asleep…losing steam / Wrestling with myself / And all these memories.” Around 2 minutes and 40 seconds in, though, all three guitarists kick in and he sings of his appreciation that “life can be funny…you’re my favorite fear.” The use of the second person makes it unclear whether Palermo is directly addressing the title illness or rather a person who has helped him cope with it. In either case, the album’s closing sentiment is as close as Nothing’s gloomiest, most introspective album gets to an expression of hope for a potentially brighter future.
Though it eases back on the sonic power of The Great Dismal and might not have as many insistent, resonant melodies as Dance on the Blacktop, the increased preponderance of slow songs and preoccupation with highly personal subject matter on a short history of decay continue to showcase Nothing as innovators, ones who haven’t lost their love for the sound that first gained them attention. Its balance of the new and the well-loved helps it to solidify their place among the most distinctive and memorable acts in contemporary shoegaze.
Label: Run for Cover
Year: 2026
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Nothing : a short history of decay
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