There is always a pleasure in hearing music that sounds like nothing you have ever heard before. That takes you to a different place and time and feels like the future. If you are looking for that, then The Dirty Nil are not going to scratch your itch. However, if you love brilliant alternative rock that has its roots in bands like Weezer, Nirvana and The Pixies, then this album might just blow your mind.
Higher Power takes something from all of those bands, but, more importantly, it also sounds like an album that has been recorded in someone’s garage by a group of mates who love playing music. From the second that ‘No Weaknesses’ comes crashing in and Luke Bentham’s drawled vocals join the distorted guitars you can relax. This is a classic three-piece alternative rock band who don’t just ape those that have come before but take music that is already pretty damn good and morph into their own exciting creation.
Take ‘Zombie Eyed’, which sounds like Weezer if they were still young and cool and recorded their music in a grungey old garage. Take the punk rock edge of ‘Lowlives’ which rips along catching everything in its wake and has elements of Black Flag and Husker Du. Or even the Pixies feel of ‘Helium Dreamer’ where Bentham sounds like he is giving a sermon with his lyrics in among the bouncing riff that ties everything together. Every track might remind you of one of those bands, but they are reference points rather than imitations. They used those sounds that we have heard before and wrap them up in one beautiful ramshackle rock and roll streaked package.
Which when you get down to it is what makes this an easy album to review, The Dirty Nil are just a good rock and roll band. Higher Power is a release on which you can hear the strings being strummed and the drums being beat. You live and breathe every second of the music, and there’s no pro-tools or shiny production job that is determined to stand between you and what the band have recorded. They sound like rock and roll and that might mean that not every element of it is perfect, but it definitely has soul. If you haven’t got on The Dirty Nil’s bandwagon yet, then you better hurry up, because if there is any justice in the world this three piece is going onto bigger and better things.
