Nocturnal Prose-Western Interests LP
Total Agency Presents: Western Interests is Nocturnal Prose Debut Album. Transparent clear with an opaque pink splatter. limited to 100 units/Hand numbered.
"On their new LP, Western Interests, San Antonio post-punks Nocturnal Prose thematically update the lyrical realm of the genre and provide an impassioned performance delivering it. In moments where their music sounds its most melodically harmonious and beautiful, Nocturnal Prose’s lyrics swivel on the meta-modern spectrum of sincere hope and knowing cynicism, passing on simply reproducing the genre’s existential and romantic malaise and despair. Nocturnal Prose instead make bleak observations partly informed by the daily experience of living under capitalism, imperialism, the increased activity of ICE detainments, kidnappings, and murders, while being forced to bear witness to the daily documented genocide of Palestinians. They provide additional lamentations on generational trauma, distant and dead friends, and body dysmorphia, while consistently discussing the necessary emotional techniques to survive through it all.
Songs like the album’s title track, as well as “World Burns to Death,” and “Echoes of Sorrow,” tread those emotional pathways and pair them with anxiety-inducing guitar melodies while vocalist/guitarist/synthesist Yole’s monotone delivery reflects the malaise and exhaustion of American life as he presently experiences it, a life undermined by institutionalized violence and the continuing circus which distracts the subjugated masses. His disaffection mirrors that of the world around him and his influence from bands like Asylum Party ring clear as a bell. Nocturnal Prose bassist Aaron and drummer Chuy merge into a force whose crucial pockets make them almost a single instrument, giving an effective canvas for guitarist Nick to give a remarkably expressive performance that surpasses the concurrent happy/sad goth and post-punk sound of the 80’s and 90’s. Influence from acts like The Gun Club, The Chameleons, For Against, Blitz, The Church, Iron Curtain, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, and LOWLIFE come through on definitively melodic tracks like “Withered Rose,” “Laughing Spell,” “More Than Human,” and “Droplets From The Rain” as Nocturnal Prose embody a significant range of human emotion; despair, indifference, joy, as well as the aforementioned anxiety."