sam san román photo
On March 6, 2012, Minneapolis trio Now, Now released its breakthrough record Threads. And five months later on August 6, 2012, the Curiosity rover landed on Mars. Launched in November 2011, Curiosity was in transit—traveling the vast expanse of space between Earth and Mars—while Cacie Dalager, Bradley Hale and Jess Abbott finished and sent their own creation out into the world. Both of them landed successfully and have gone on to have much longer and fruitful careers than those who planned them had expected. Now six years later, Now, Now has released their next LP, Saved, and Curiosity continues to explore the red planet, searching for signs of life.
I still remember the first time I heard Threads--in KWLC, the radio station of Luther College. This isolated basement studio provided refuge for me during the week as a place to simply listen to new music, prepare for my radio show and do nothing else. I would give myself an hour to listen through the latest additions to our music library, and track out the next hour's playlist. But when I put Now, Now in the CD player, I didn't want to stop listening. So I played a song from Threads on my show almost every week for the next few months before graduating. I burned the CD to my computer and listened to "Prehistoric," "Wolf," and "School Friends" during my last semester over and over, as I dealt with heartbreak, anxiety and senioritis. When I moved to Minneapolis that fall, I immersed myself in the local music scene, and found myself among many other fans and friends of the band. Now when I listen to Threads, I'm transported back to late nights on campus or after work in the upper Midwest, walking home and wishing for more.
For many fans of Now, Now like myself, Threads is a stand-alone album with significant emotional attachment, something that cannot be compared to or beaten by future releases. But after such a long wait, it feels necessary to examine the distance the band has covered in their sound, what they're exploring today, and if it's as successful as the last album.
Now, Now has fully embraced indie pop with Saved, a strong departure from Threads' lo-fi, alternative and indie rock influences. There's nothing like the epic ending of "Magnet" on this release, no heavy jams like those of "Thread" or emotional bedroom rock sessions of "But I Do." Instead, "SGL" announces Now, Now 2.0, with Dalager's same scratchy, subdued vocals embedded in bright, upbeat pop, catchy indie rock choruses, and songs about love that was young, dumb and worth it. Yet there's nothing cheesy, Top-40, or unoriginal about it. It's indie pop and rock in the style of Dalager and Hale, six years older, wiser and wanting it all.
For many fans of Now, Now like myself, Threads is a stand-alone album with significant emotional attachment, something that cannot be compared to or beaten by future releases. But after such a long wait, it feels necessary to examine the distance the band has covered in their sound, what they're exploring today, and if it's as successful as the last album.
Now, Now has fully embraced indie pop with Saved, a strong departure from Threads' lo-fi, alternative and indie rock influences. There's nothing like the epic ending of "Magnet" on this release, no heavy jams like those of "Thread" or emotional bedroom rock sessions of "But I Do." Instead, "SGL" announces Now, Now 2.0, with Dalager's same scratchy, subdued vocals embedded in bright, upbeat pop, catchy indie rock choruses, and songs about love that was young, dumb and worth it. Yet there's nothing cheesy, Top-40, or unoriginal about it. It's indie pop and rock in the style of Dalager and Hale, six years older, wiser and wanting it all.
sam san román photo
"MJ" gets under my skin in the best way, with a dynamic, driving electronic pop beat. Dalager sings of wanting something just for herself alone, "and I want it all." Of high school emotions and relationships with people and the songs we listened to late at night that made us feel okay. They're reflecting on dealing their own experiences, which puts their music into an interesting meta level, as many of us listeners found ourselves listening to Threads to deal with our own experiences. At least I got the sense in Minneapolis I wasn't alone in that particular affection for their work. "MJ" offers a sense of emotional maturity we aim for as we age, recognizing a feeling we don't like and putting it into a productive context--like a single on an album.
They tune it down for "Can't Help Myself," letting the atmosphere drive the moment, the message. Again, they take it to a higher level, speaking of "a sad dream / it's a sad song / to remind me / but I'm singing along." It's a meditation on the difficulty of over getting over someone, the frustration of overthinking things, accepting the future that might not be how you imagined it. Three songs in, it confirms the new sound and direction the duo is headed in, setting an expectation that there will be more moody grooves like this one as well as upbeat pop tunes in the mix. So I find it hard to accept "Arizona," a slower song that shuffles along in comparison to its predecessors. It hints at some elements of Threads, but with a cleaner, upgraded sound. Yet it just doesn't click quite right with its companions and I end up skipping it often, moving on to "Windows."
They tune it down for "Can't Help Myself," letting the atmosphere drive the moment, the message. Again, they take it to a higher level, speaking of "a sad dream / it's a sad song / to remind me / but I'm singing along." It's a meditation on the difficulty of over getting over someone, the frustration of overthinking things, accepting the future that might not be how you imagined it. Three songs in, it confirms the new sound and direction the duo is headed in, setting an expectation that there will be more moody grooves like this one as well as upbeat pop tunes in the mix. So I find it hard to accept "Arizona," a slower song that shuffles along in comparison to its predecessors. It hints at some elements of Threads, but with a cleaner, upgraded sound. Yet it just doesn't click quite right with its companions and I end up skipping it often, moving on to "Windows."
sam san román photo
And "Windows" is where I get really excited about this album, where I see the most growth in these two together. Like its lyrics, this is where they really let us in. The first two songs were poppy singles--fantastic in their own right--and the next two were attempts at something like their sound, but it doesn't fully hit the mark. When "Windows" comes in with "don't you know I'm desperate for you" and drops a heavy bass across a slow-motion, atmospheric beat, I get full body tingles. Here, they break free, seeing the vast potential for their work outside their own front step. "Holy Water" capitalizes on this departure, matching the deep echoes and slow reveal of its album companion.
Then somehow seamlessly, "Yours" jumps back into the mix. More in line with "SGL" and "MJ," it connects the initial vibe of the album halfway through and lights everything up. It's the perfect song to blare with the windows down in summer, dance to at home, or put on a mixtape. Mix CD. Thumb drive. Spotify playlist...?
It's at this point where I wonder about the band's musical goals, and they start to lose me. I hate to say anything bad about this band, but "Saved" is like a worse, less exciting version of "Holy Water," and I'm pretty sure I'm missing the point of "Powder." But "Knowme" is the underdog of the album, hidden toward the end but full of life and curiosity. It explores the edges of Now, Now's sound in mixing electronics with pop hooks, all while maintaining the typical Dalager lyrics of desire and longing for a girl we will never know. It speaks to me on a level that the flashier singles can't reach, mentioning off-hand, "and it's sad that I still care at all." I find "Drive" to be the true ballad of the album, slow and epic on purpose. Then while "Set It Free" is a great tune, somehow it feels washed out, something is missing at the heart of it. One of the defining traits of Now, Now's music is that for all its new pop glory, it's not shallow in any way. Yet this track feels too close to a typical radio chart, a song someone wrote for another person to perform. So close to the end of the LP, it gives a foreign feel to an otherwise intimate and personal journey.
Then somehow seamlessly, "Yours" jumps back into the mix. More in line with "SGL" and "MJ," it connects the initial vibe of the album halfway through and lights everything up. It's the perfect song to blare with the windows down in summer, dance to at home, or put on a mixtape. Mix CD. Thumb drive. Spotify playlist...?
It's at this point where I wonder about the band's musical goals, and they start to lose me. I hate to say anything bad about this band, but "Saved" is like a worse, less exciting version of "Holy Water," and I'm pretty sure I'm missing the point of "Powder." But "Knowme" is the underdog of the album, hidden toward the end but full of life and curiosity. It explores the edges of Now, Now's sound in mixing electronics with pop hooks, all while maintaining the typical Dalager lyrics of desire and longing for a girl we will never know. It speaks to me on a level that the flashier singles can't reach, mentioning off-hand, "and it's sad that I still care at all." I find "Drive" to be the true ballad of the album, slow and epic on purpose. Then while "Set It Free" is a great tune, somehow it feels washed out, something is missing at the heart of it. One of the defining traits of Now, Now's music is that for all its new pop glory, it's not shallow in any way. Yet this track feels too close to a typical radio chart, a song someone wrote for another person to perform. So close to the end of the LP, it gives a foreign feel to an otherwise intimate and personal journey.
sam san román photo
But there's nothing I want more for this beloved band than for them to be free to experiment, to have free reign to wander and explore in their own world. So while I still yearn for another album in the canon of Threads, we will always have that album. It's not going anywhere. What we have from Now, Now is something new, a listening experience in uncharted territory that Dalager and Hale have imagined for us. We have brilliant indie pop blast-in-your-car type tunes, moody ballads for late-night heartsickness, and sexy downtempo beats. We have lyrics full of longing, desire and reflection. We have Cacie and Brad back, hopefully for good. My only true critique is that it took them a heck of long time to get here. And my only request is please (please) don't make us wait six years for more.
RSS Feed