Review: The Nailbiters - No Forwarding Address

On this first release, The Nailbiters from New York dispense the same kind of doomed indie folk-rock as Wicked Immigrant, a band I reviewed a couple of years ago. This is only a half-hour listen but the best offerings from this dark but varied album have the ability to haunt hours after the recording has finished.

 

It ends fairly unassumingly with ‘What’s Been Happening’; a downbeat track but by using its message of “There’s a new sun in the sky”, it’s a cunning way of fooling the listener in to thinking all is well. The more intense ‘How Could I’ makes great use of some bluesy keyboards as guitars work out their most insistent riffs, meanwhile ’The Rock And The Wall’ takes a grungier route. ‘That Look’ opts for a melancholic folk melody accompanied by warm keyboards and the frontman’s lovelorn vocal (”I thought you didn’t notice, I thought you despised me”) whilst the title track, the sparest song here, is a real “less is more” kind of song. The Nailbiters don’t always come up trumps but they cover a variety of styles, ensuring they maintain their own stamp of identity throughout.

Web Sites:
Official Band Site
Nailbiters MySpace

Also Reviewed:
Wicked Immigrant - White Nuns On Red Wine