Cassette Review // nutrients "nutrients"

$10 CAD //
Edition of 50 //
https://nutrientsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/nutrients

For me, Nutrients is such a strange band.   I've listened to this self-titled cassette a number of times now and every time it seemingly catches me off guard.   There are three different factors which go into making these songs and though they all could be under the banner of "rock", that really is a broad banner.   In many ways, the ways I could describe this feel like they could neighbors when it comes to genre, but at the same time I just don't feel like these sounds have ever been combined quite like this before.

At first, I hear this dreamy rock.   It's something that I put between the Silversun Pickups and Smashing Pumpkins.   It's just that chill vibe that doesn't really seem to threaten anyone, partly between not caring and not being cool.   It's got that almost whisper in the vocals thing going on that I like to think of when I imagine this specific type of dream rock.  And, yes, on a larger scale I'd likely put that dream rock with something like a Buddy Holly influence or even go so far as to pair it with twee.

As the cassette goes on and the songs progress, the next sound which comes in is this funk/disco-type of sound which almost can be on the cusp of math rock.  But the more I hear it, the more I believe it's something inspired by the music which my parents would have listened to while at the rollerdisco.   I know, I know, I always go back to that point of reference but never quite have an artist to relate it with exactly.   Perhaps I need to go through my parents' taste in music one day.   But yes, a second level of this which builds upon the first is that of "Roll Bounce" or perhaps even The Jackson 5.

And then- and I'm not sure how this happened- a saxophone comes in.   It's not even really out of left field either.   It's just such perfect timing, so perfectly placed that I'm upset at myself for every time I didn't see it coming.   And then I wonder what this compares with and I think of when the music of the late 1980's/early 1990's had a sax come out but it wasn't really the prominent instrument- something like that one song from the movie "Better Off Dead" and I always go back to that but I can't think of a solid reference just a lot of Bruce Springsteen types.

So essentially you have this band which exists inside one specific scene within a movie- that diner scene in "Better Off Dead"- and instead of the movie being based around skiing it would instead be set at the rollerskating rink.   On top of this, you'd have to have this fun, driving around vibe like the "1979" music video and, well, yeah if you could put all of that together then you could totally groove into the sound of Nutrients.