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Z​ö​e

by Nightshift

supported by
George Wilhite
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George Wilhite Really dig this
A great unique vibe
craig andrews
craig andrews thumbnail
craig andrews Very good progressive punk
Burnsy
Burnsy thumbnail
Burnsy Beautifully woven threads. Favorite track: Infinity Winner.
EMD
EMD thumbnail
EMD The tension of the

world, its course of history:

anarchic rumblings!

This whole thing is an incredible movement from an urban mindset (“Spray Paint the Bridge”) into a forest of sound and philosophy I would like to be wandering through for the rest of the day, but “Outta Space” has quickly made itself the place I am the most excited to return to with each rotation.

for more Very Good Haiku reviews, visit:

comeawaywithemd.com/very-good-haiku-a-2021-music-writing-experiment/

Favorite track: Outta Space.
stereojunk
stereojunk thumbnail
stereojunk fav lp of 2021 so far, less abrasive pram and secretly catchy
 thumbnail
I heard this on WFMU's Garbage Time and played it about 25 times in a row. That, it seems to me, is worth a purchase. Favorite track: Power Cut.
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    Includes a full-color inner sleeve + insert w/ lyric sheet!

    Includes unlimited streaming of Zöe via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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    Includes unlimited streaming of Zöe via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD or more 

     

  • Limited cassette version (purple shell)
    Cassette + Digital Album

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  • Limited "Moss Green" vinyl version
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Includes a full-color inner sleeve + insert w/ lyric sheet!

    Includes unlimited streaming of Zöe via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
2.
3.
Outta Space 03:29
4.
Make Kin 03:51
5.
Fences 03:48
6.
Power Cut 07:00
7.
8.
Romantic Mud 02:23
9.
Zöe 02:58
10.
Receipts 02:46

about

The band that became NIGHTSHIFT formed in 2019 in the ecosystem of Glasgow's current indie scene. The city's fertile & creative group of musicians have been committed to pushing the boundaries of and blurring the lines between DIY, punk, experimentalism and indie pop for decades now; a home to bands like Shopping, Vital Idles, Current Affairs, Still House Plants, Richard Youngs and Happy Meals as well as forebears like Orange Juice, Teenage Fanclub & Yummy Fur. NIGHTSHIFT slot right in with all mentioned, featuring members from current indie stalwarts Spinning Coin, 2 Ply and Robert Sotelo. The band was formed by David Campbell (guitar), Andrew Doig (bass), Eothen Stearn (keyboards/vocals) & Chris White (drums) as a "No Wave/No New York/early Sonic Youth/This Heat-esque" group, but their sound quickly evolved once guitarist/vocalist/clarinetist Georgia Harris joined (as the band was writing "Zöe"). The band self-released a full-length cassette on CUSP Recordings in early-2020, laying the foundation of their sound; hypnotic, melodic, understated indie post-punk with hooks that stick around long after you've heard them. "Zöe" is the band's newest effort, and first for Trouble In Mind.

Unlike the band's previous album, the songs on "Zöe" weren't conceived live in the band's practice space, but rather pieced together and recorded remotely during quarantine lockdown, with each member composing or improvising their parts in homes/home studios, layering ideas over loops someone made and passing it on. The isolation actually allowed for an openness and creativity to flow and many of the songs took on radically different forms from when they were originally envisioned. Vocalist & primary lyricist Eothen Stearn says "The process of writing these songs separately during lockdown was a kind of exquisite corpse - I liked this gesticulation of reaching out to one another and responding. Building up the next layer and passing it on." Stearn says "poetic restraints" to writing & Eno's Oblique Strategies concepts were on their mind when composing the words to the songs on "Zöe" and lists the influence of author Rosi Bradiotti's book "The Posthuman". "Zöe" means "live drive", derived from the word conatus. Bradiotti defines conatus as “an effort or striving, endeavour, impulse, inclination, tendency, undertaking, serving is an innate inclination of a thing to continue to exist and enhance itself.” and Stearn views it as "...a kind of feminist re-claiming of communal public, anti- privatisation, looking to strive for social and environmental justice. Zöe kind of became a character of striving for me when writing.". "Zöe" kicks off with "Piece Together", a hypnotic song anchored by the band's chanted vocals and serpentine guitar licks. "Spraypaint the Bridge" showcases Harris' clarinet in an unexpected & delightful melodic shift during the song's anti-chorus. Elsewhere tunes like the swooning "Infinity Winner" and  "Outta Space"s minimalist, slinky rhythm swirl in a late-night vibe, while "Make Kin" ruminates on "Looking to kinship as a way of engaging with entangled environmental and reproductive issues... how a band is a bond" and lurches forward with kinetic guitar strangling & staccato rhythmic percussion from White & Doig. "Power Cut" is the album's centerpiece, kicking off Side two & lures the listener into its world over it's 7-minute runtime. Lulling them into involuntary movement with its waves of melodic harmonies, synth drones and metronomic pulse, until they all come crashing down in the song's dissonant midsection.

The band acknowledges the whiffs of nostalgia prevalent in "Zöe"s songs (the title track in particular), and the nature of writing & recording the album is soaked in the self-work, reflection & reevaluations involved not only personally but creatively in each member's lives. Consequently, the album becomes a collection of sketches of hope, growth, awareness of the power of the world & the power of self, kith, kinship, friendship, resistance, and possibility.

credits

released February 26, 2021

Recorded by NIGHTSHIFT

Mixed by Chris White
Mastered by Mikey Young

Art by Musheto Fernández & NIGHTSHIFT
Ceramic object & illustrations by Eothen Stearn
Screen print by Chris White
Band photo by Sian Dorrer

Eothen Stearn - Voice, Keyboards
Georgia Harris - Voice, Guitar, Clarinet, Bottles
David Campbell - Guitar
Chris White - Drums, Voice
Andrew Doig - Bass, Voice

Rachel Aggs - Backing vocals

(Chris White appears courtesy of Geographic)

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Nightshift Glasgow, UK

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