Charting number one on CIVL’s Top 30 last week, Nap Eyes, an indie-rock band from Halifax, released three singles from I’m Bad Now which will see its full release March 9. The pre-releases include “Every Time I Get The Feeling,” “I’m Bad,” and “Dull Me Line.”
Like their previous two albums, I’m Bad Now is toned-back indie: shimmering slow strums and a dip shoulders back and forth kind of rhythm, indicative of shoe-gazey heritages.
Vocalist Nigel Chapman has got a bit of a Lou Reed kind of croon going on, which is thrown off-kilter on songs like “Dull Me Line” and “Every Time I Get The Feeling” with a short, explosive guitar solo, like a dropped cymbal except with melody. This element association brings balance, aligning Chapman’s somewhat dry vocals with their keen lyrical quality.
And despite the apparent simplicity, the tracks showcase a tight composition of working with what they’ve got. That’s to say that this four-piece actually sounds like there’s four musicians — a distinction against contemporary indie-pop, often choosing to smear every colour onto the canvas.
