Nap Eyes - Im Bad Now '2018

Tracks list

Tracklist
---------
01. Every Time the Feeling
02. Im Bad
03. Judgment
04. Roses
05. Follow Me Down
06. You Like to Joke Around with Me
07. Dull Me Line
08. Sage
09. Hearing the Bass
10. White Disciple
11. Boats Appear


With their third record, Im Bad Now, Canadian indie quartet Nap Eyes complete
what they refer to as an informal trilogy of releases that began with 2014s
Whine of the Mystic. That curious debut introduced the vision of frontman and
chief songwriter Nigel Chapman, whose cerebral introspections were woven into a
lazy lattice of sparsely arranged, low-key rock that drew inevitable Velvet
Underground comparisons. The philosophical songcraft and the members musical
chemistry deepened with 2016s finely honed sequel, Thought Rock Fish Scale,
further establishing their singularity. Three albums in, it seems no longer fair
to compare Chapmans laconically sung, bookish verses to the streetwise urban
poetry of Lou Reed. With this excellent third LP, Nap Eyes identity as
guitar-slinging bard-scholars of Eastern Canada is sealed. Originally based in
Halifax, Chapman is now the bands sole Maritime resident, with lead guitarist
Brad Loughead, bassist Josh Salter, and drummer Seamus Dalton having migrated
westward to Montreal, where this set was recorded. Like their other releases, Im
Bad Now is very much a live record full of human interactions and spontaneous
musical conversations, shambling at times, then coalescing into sections of
streamlined glory. Out of the gate, Nap Eyes offer one of the albums gems in the
easy-grooving Every Time the Feeling, with its refrain of I cant tell whats
worse: the meaningless or the negative meaning/But I figured out a way to get on
with my life and to keep on dreaming. Its a keen setup to Chapmans worldview and
Nap Eyes tone in general as they pose questions, offer answers, and examine
abstract behaviors. Chapman frequently addresses himself in the second person,
directly confronting his attitudes on subjects both expansive and minute. When
he receives a bouquet of roses on Roses, he asks You cant very well send them
back the other way/Youre always trying to be nice, but is it really the right
way? The sweetly pastoral Follow Me Down offers a meditation on walking, while
the acoustic Boats Appear romanticizes his coastal Atlantic hometown. Im Bad Now
may be billed as a closing chapter in their first act, but Nap Eyes give the
feeling that their narrative will continue on indefinitely. ~ Timothy Monger

Related artists