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Nick Nicely — Afterworld
(Fruits de Mer crustacean 97, 2023, LP)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2023-05-17

Afterworld Cover art

Fruits de Mer Records has just released the fifth album by the enigmatic nick nicely, a dive into nick’s hidden world behind the curtain of his legendary eternal track completion process, with a collection of outtakes, abandoned projects, and alternate versions of his songs from over the past several decades. The album opens with an outtake of “Rosemary’s Eyes,” a song that first appeared in 2012 on FdM’s The League of Psychedelic Gentlemen, and a second version on nick’s 2014 album Space of a Second. Jumping from 2012 to 2014 to 2023 is akin to watching nick use a lathe, smoothing off the rough bits, reshaping the song, and adding new textures. This new version is more raucous with scraping electronics and distortion, though still recognizable as the same song. Track two is the first of his abandoned projects on the LP, “Eels.” This song is a slow slithering psychedelic excursion into dark sinister gothic western soundscapes. Next is an alternative version of  “D.C.T. Dreams” from nick’s 2003 debut album Psychotropia and reaching back even further to his first single from 1980, with electronic percussion and trippy processed vocals. A demo of “Blood on the Beach” follows, a song that I think morphed into “On the Beach (St. Peters) Nashville” from 2021. This demo is a muffled lo-fi song that is quite hypnotic. Next is another abandoned project, “Gallery” with its sweeping distorted and razor sharp electronics and robotic vocals. Track six brings us to the fireborn outtake (???) of “Whirpool” from Space of a Second.  More of nick’s weirdness with throbbing bass, swirling sounds, sound bites, and crystal clear vocals weaving in and out of his processed vocals, as you get sucked down into his sonic whirlpool. Then he treats us to his Berlin outtake of another song from Space of a Second, “Rrainbow,” not a misspelling. This version is another one of his lo-fi sonic experiments with rumbling piano, voices, and processed vocals for a dreamy three minutes. Then nick presents “Further Down the Beach,” an early version of “Headwind Aheadwind,” the opening track from Space of a Second. Now we experience nick’s creation process from lo-fi unintelligible over-processed sounds that led to the finished product. And the album closes with another abandoned project “Shadows in the Sun,” a lo-fi cinematic song. You either love or hate nick’s music. It does take a period of adjustment to appreciate his hallucinogenic genius, he lives in an entirely different universe than the rest of us. If you haven’t yet experienced nick nicely, Afterworld is a great introduction to his unique musical vision.

Filed under: Archives, 2023 releases

Related artist(s): Nick Nicely

More info
http://www.fruitsdemerrecords.com/afterworld.html

 

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