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Nick Nicely — Or a Brockley Afternoon
(Bandcamp Echo Eternal no#, 2026, CD / DL)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2026-10-05

Or a Brockley Afternoon Cover art

Over the years, my relationship with British psych cult musician nick nicely has been something of a slow-motion conversion. When I reviewed Space of a Second back in 2014, I came away unconvinced. The eccentricity felt forced, the production impenetrable. Yet with each successive release, I found myself understanding his strange little universe a bit more. Not that nicely has changed much. If anything, I've simply learned how to listen to him. His latest album, Or a Brockley Afternoon (which my brain insists on reading as On a Broccoli Afternoon every single time), finds him continuing to refine and revise his singular sonic language. No one seems less interested in leaving a finished recording alone than nicely. Songs are endlessly tweaked, reshaped, and reimagined. Case in point: "Mike Hall Is Calling" and "Wonderful Day" both of which appeared on a Fruits de Mer single in 2024, yet reappear here in subtly altered form. Surprisingly, the versions on this album sound a bit cleaner and more focused than their earlier incarnations. That doesn't mean everything works. My biggest complaint is the mastering. There is simply too much treble throughout the album. Many tracks are coated in bright, edgy textures that occasionally cross the line from invigorating to fatiguing. Nicely also has a habit of ending songs abruptly just when they seem poised to drift off into the cosmos. Still, when he's on, he's fascinating. "Mike Hall Is Calling" opens with reversed tape effects and a spooky, dreamlike atmosphere. "Miniature Man" rides a rough-hewn riff, while "Wonderful Day" layers distorted guitars over an infectious rhythmic pulse. The title track floats through processed textures, filtered sounds, and delightfully cheesy organ before settling into a surprisingly calm middle section. Elsewhere, "Facing Awayy" (I have no idea why it needs the extra "y") delivers one of the album's strongest melodies atop an energetic drum pattern, while "Tic and Toc Collide" sounds like some improbable collision between psychedelic pop, spoken word, and rhythmic experimentation. "I've Gone Jackson Pollock" absolutely cooks. By the time "Death of Desire" and the ambient closer arrive, I found myself less concerned with individual songs than simply drifting along inside nicely's peculiar sonic landscape. One curiosity: the promo's track sequence differs from the running order on Bandcamp. Does it matter? Probably not. But why are they different? With nick nicely, the answer is likely the same as it always is: because he heard something the rest of us didn't.

Filed under: New releases, 2026 releases

Related artist(s): nick nicely

More info
http://nicknicely1.bandcamp.com/album/or-a-brockley-afternoon

 

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