The Nomadic Firs :: "I'm A 99"

Without getting overly political or doing a critical analysis of what it might mean to be "the 99 percent" or a comprehensive inventory of what is an increasingly consumer debt driven economy, we're prepared to say we're interested in the people hanging out on Wall St. at this writing. It isn't SDS and this isn't Vietnam, but something about post-adolescents sleeping outside to protest income inequality and corporate person-hood feels like our generation grappling with - or is it needing? - a dare-to-be-great moment. We don't have a Dylan, nor did Dylan end the war; Nixon did. But, this generation has a broader musical culture, thousands of digital releases and Bandcamps and Soundclouds and Garageband bards, prepared to offer their voice to something that might matter. Protest music isn't less relevant now, it's just a brilliant sun fractured into a million bare light bulbs. Nomadic Firs, a band with a handle on downcast pop, take a stab at codifying the movement with their sing-song raison d'etre cut, "I'm A 99". The chorus rings instantly singable, a repeating statement of self, one of those collective, existential cries, in this case: "I'm a 99." This only matters if you tell people; it only counts if you are a partial part of it.

The Nomadic Firs :: "Vines"

The Nomadic Firs' new single, "Vines" inspires a gliding, effortless visual imagery. A slow-motion time lapse between the diving board and the surface of the water, the vocals are buried in an unmistakable haze but there is an equally hard to miss arc, a narrative even. The band suggests for you to get outside behind a bouncy loop that would remind you of what might happen if Len remade "Steal My Sunshine" as an indie rock seven inch. As for that same "sunshine," they tell us we deserve it, a languid half-rapped, half-sung reminder about the value of earning your place somewhere out there. The rhetorical flourishes touch the edges of grandiose, but this is bright, shimmering youth, not something that purports a heavy dose of pragmatism. To boot, the aesthetic is burnt out, bright midday sunshine, a type of malaise that unexpectedly inspires something hopeful. It's so lazy, you can almost see it turning into something else.


Vines - off the upcoming album slated for this fall. by Nomadic Firs