I had a real photo problem with Now, Now. See, they used to be a three-piece with Jess Abbott (who I know from Tancred and not from this, what a world) but they’re back down to the original duo of Cacie Dalager and Bradley Hale. Unfortunately, most of the band photos on the intertron are interminably ancient and as such depict the trio and therefore are not what I’m after. As an additional wrinkle Cacie Dalager is currently sporting some super rad pink hair, as seen above, and there’s no way I wasn’t gonna showcase that situation, so this is what I’ve got. It’s the press photo you’ve probably already seen or will see everywhere you look for more news about Now, Now. I try, reader. I swear I try. As an aside, in the wake of our collective loss of Hayley Williams’ venerable flame-job locks, it heartens me to see Cacie Dalager in good company with the likes of Lights picking up the vibrantly-colored torch and carrying it forward.
Oh right, music. Not a hair color blog.
YET.
Now, Now has been lying dormant for a while. Their 2012 outing, Threads, is not an album I was particularly taken with at the time (though listening to it now I find a lot more to like), but in the interim they’ve been hard at work. Ahead of a full album release, they’ve let slip this one single and if this one single is in any way indicative of what they’ve got in the wings, we’re in for something great.
SGL (a short-hand reference to the phrase “shotgun lover” you’ll hear in the track, I’m hip, I’m down, how do you do fellow kids) is, more than anything, a track of driving rhythms. The no-nonsense elements stack up through the first verse into a building chorus that drops off like a hard down-shift for the second verse, in a theme you’ll see repeated through the track of a staged mountain climb that barrels right off a cliff at the finish. I’m definitely not saying they invented the form, this is certainly a phenomenon you’ve encountered before, but this particular instance of it is powerfully tight. The relative sparseness of the early arrangement really drills the chugging guitar riff and drum’n’bass rhythm into you; by the time they’re sprinkling in the light ’tronicas and reverb-y echo magicks, you’re part of the machine. I don’t know exactly what this machine does, but it sounds damn good doin’ it. Cacie Dalager’s smoky near-monotone melody works a treat; anything more vocally acrobatic would’ve upset the groove and anything less would’ve sounded like spoken word. They’ve really got something I’m digging here and I anxiously await the revelation of the fullness of this album. My breaths are appropriately bated.
Now, as a general policy, I don’t normally post random singles I find on the intertron. I like albums, and I could wait for the album quietly while you, dear reader, perhaps know nothing of this track, but that feels like a real waste. We’re coming into the peak of summer music season and maybe you’re making your road trip or family beach outing or vacation airplane playlists and I want you to have SGL in your bag o’tricks for that. I want that for you, reader, so I’ve done this thing. I will re-visit Now, Now when the time arrives and we’ll find out if my enthusiasm today pays off, but right now? Right now I bring you this.
Where to find Now, Now:
Twitter: @nownowband
Website: nownowmusic.com