New Decade
Hush
self-released
There've been a few accidentally discovered wonders this year for me, though I am not sure how many will retain the presence that New Decade's "Hush EP" exudes from start to finish when all's said and done. Easily likened to the oft overlooked North Carolinians Cities, these Swedes' creations radiate youthful sparks, trampling the line between the dour outlook of Interpol and the contemplative chaos that was Archers of Loaf. The emptiness habitually found in introspective numbers is funneled through a more hopeful filter on "Hush"; considered, brooded over, and elated in the final moments of the songs. New Decade have a near flawless delivery: their songs are timed and tempered almost perfectly, waters are muddied and built up before allowing the waves of distorted and delay to consume the compositions. Emil Lundblad's voice is as powerful an apparatus as the beautifully entangled guitar lines or the backline power of the drums and bass, never having to strain to exist alongside the augmenting storms of instrumentation. "I guess you ran from something" and "While tonight still is" are my favorites so far, especially the examinations of unstable, dynamic emotions captured by static photographs in the latter's lyrics (some of the best I've heard from a vocalist for whom English is a second language), though the others barely lag behind. The only downside is the fact it is merely an EP. Putting "Hush" on repeat will quell my desire for more until New Decade reenter the studio, hopefully on the roster of any label smart enough to pick them up.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
