No Age has gotten better at noise.
Whether or not you thought 2008’s ‘Nouns’ was worth the hype, No Age play “abrasive” in an interesting way, their trails of sonic carnage are thoughtfully at odds with the subtlest melodies, which seep into the mire and somehow transcend whatever is on the surface. With their new album ‘Everything In Between’, this aspect of No Age has not gone away, nor has it led to any real musical evolution. Whatever precedent ‘Nouns’ established, the band seem content to remain on course, pondering and manipulating their instruments into poppy punk songs, or generating ambient fields that cross Eno with Sonic Youth.
Having said that, ‘Everything In Between’ is a more direct effort and No Age seem to achieve the textures they seek with greater concision. I would almost eliminate the word “experimental” completely when describing the new album, guesswork rarely entering the equation. Songs like Fever Dreaming, where high-frequency squeals follow each verse, only sound chaotic next to the rapid guitar play. Same with Glitter, the entire song’s foundation a mass of calculated soundscapes that swallow each other whole. There’s a lot of organization here, disguised by discordant sounds.
The album’s most engaging moments come when discord takes a backseat. Depletion is a simple and somber punk tune, and Common Heat adds some snot and heightened-tempo to acoustic folk. The heavy percussive roll of Skinned transitions into a loud surefire garage beat, driving the song into a guitar-laden close and giving the album its biggest payoff. Admittedly, instrumental and ambient tracks like Katerpillar, Dusted and Positive Amputation expand No Age into something more complex, but the band knows how to work with simple melodies - the ghostly hum of Valley Hump Crash, the guitar notes at the front of Life Prowler - and this could be their strongest asset as songwriters. Elsewhere, ‘Everything In Between’ flirts with Animal Collective on Sorts, and could easily have paid homage to Jay Reatard with Chem Trails.
Despite their evident infatuation with simplistic pop gems, garage rock, punk rock, and the role of cacophony in a consistent identity, No Age’s progression is measurable to anyone that can hear past the surface of noise and static. From this perspective, ‘Everything In Between’ is the best title they could have come up with.