Cassette Review // nyxy nyx "Spirit Exchange" (BLIGHT. Records)

$10 //
Edition of 100 //
https://nyxynyx.bandcamp.com/album/spirit-exchange-2 //

When this cassette starts a song can be heard with deep vocals and a softly strummed guitar.   It reminds me of one of the ballads by The Who, such as "Behind Blue Eyes", and I really enjoy the idea that the singer wishes to go back and be kids again because times were so much simpler then.   "I Pine For Her" comes on next with a more folk rock quality about it and there are also background vocals.    Though this song has increased in pace the overall vibe is mellow which I enjoy because it grooves but enough to keep you awake.

Some of that sharpness brings us into louder drums now and it feels like we're going into a specific area of modern rock from the 1990's but I can't quite place it.   It's not quite Oasis and it's not quite New Radicals, but it's something along those lines but also paving its own way.   "Courtney"- the first of many songs on here with a name for the title- has a much more distorted rock feeling to it, which is much closer to grunge of the 1990's like Pavement or Mudhoney.

This very quickly switches over into another song, somewhat acoustic sounding but definitely dark and along the lines of a slow grunge now.   Somewhere between bands like Hum, Spacehog and the second album era of Stone Temple Pilots.    Yet, it also somehow- going back to what I thought at first earlier- really has that idea of when Limp Bizkit covered "Behind Blue Eyes" only, you know, without all the electronic breakdowns that LB did.

"Judy" is an acoustic folk ballad which reminds me of that one song by The Beatles that everyone seems to play at funerals.   "I'm Apart" is a bit slower with a steady bass line like Weezer's "Only In Dreams" or "In the Garage" but it also has some folk and psychedelic qualities behind it as well.    The instrumental side of this song just takes over and I begin to drift away with it.  The titular track takes us to a trippy folk place which is kind of like Bob Dylan but also kind of like Pink Floyd.

On the flip side we open with more acoustic melodies.  The drums kick in and this one just becomes so dreamy.   This one drops off into the thunder of the percussion and becomes mostly instrumental as well, which is nice.   "In The Pastures" begins by teaching us about harmonies and then kicks right into bliss-filled rock.   At the point where the guitar solo comes cutting through I feel almost like this can be compared with The Cure somehow, but in a less depressing way.

It feels like there's this weird bridge before "Pink Clouds" and then we get into a song which can be summed up by its title because it feels like we're floating around on clouds.  "Shannon" somehow has this whispery 1990's feel to it, but also a little bit of Weezer so I imagine an artist from back then- and I really want to say Phil Collins- covering a Weezer song, though this drumming also sounds tribal.

"Maryjane" feels like something from the "Juno" soundtrack and I'm still not sure if it's about a person or marijuana but I like to be kept guessing.   Since the lyrics do reference the psych ward though I'm also reminded of the show "Legion" and the influence that soundtrack has on modern television.  I watched I believe the first two seasons of that show and feel I should go back since I read somewhere it was ending.

"N.O.S." has a distorted riff in it like Blur.   The "Outroduction" has this piano sound which reminds me not only of something you might hear at a wedding (or at least in church) but it's the first time I really get the bedroom vibe off of this one.  Now, when I go back and listen to it after the first time, yes, I can hear more bedroom pop but it's funny on my first listen I didn't pick up on it until the very end.