Nanami Ozone are an indie rock band from Phoenix, Arizona. Their sophomore album NO, released via the ever-reliable Tiny Engines, finds the band walking a tightrope between pop, punk and shoegaze, drawing elements from each to create an idiosyncratic and wholly unique sound. With guitarists Sophie Opich and Colson Miller sharing the vocal duties, the rich bass from Jordan Owen ties the tracks together as Chris Gerber provides crashing drums, leading to a sound that is as tight as it is explosive.
As if to set out their stall immediately, Nanami Ozone open with ‘Sidewalks’. The track initially sounds like murky post punk but soon blossoms into something altogether expansive, the voices of Miller and Opich like liquid light at the centre of a tangled grey cloud of static energy. A song about occupying an awkward no-man’s land, follow up ‘Alone Too’ combines catchy dream pop vocals with rumbling guitar and slapped drums, showing the band are capable of earworm melody as well as raw power. “I don’t want to be with you but I don’t want to be alone too,” sings Opich, the sentiment representing the first sign that Nanami Ozone are not interested in making sickly pink love songs.
[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2054778715 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=1076945551]
‘On the Ground’ is a celebratory shot of shoegaze goodness, while ‘Affection’ builds from blown-out guitar into a leaden 90s alt-rock. Miller’s vocals are initially little more than a downbeat mumble, the song dragging itself along on its belly as guitars chug and drums stomp, but the second half sees things perk up, the vocals straining for something higher as the atmosphere brightens.
Miller handles lead vocals on ‘The Art of Sleeping In’, a dark and smoky track that pairs a towering storm front of intertwining guitars with propulsive percussion and Opich’s disarmingly soft backing. He then continues on ‘3 Mile Drive,” where wiry guitar gives way to bursts of punchy noise, the vocals stitched into the fuzzed-out instrumentation to create a shimmering MBV-style sonic blanket.
[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2054778715 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=543915958]
‘Erase Time’ is one NO‘s more sedate moments, existing in a sense of twilit negative space, while ‘Make It Alright (Damage)’ gets all grungey around a sighing centre, proof that elemental noise can have an emotional core. The album then closes on ‘Think of Me None’, an Opich-led song that dials back the volume in favour of Mazzy Star-esque aching sentiment.
Please stay
or I’ll miss the way that you taste
like toothpaste
A record that takes three decades of influences and turns them into something genuinely thrilling and new, NO is a delight. Come for the all-enveloping noise, stay for what’s just below the surface, the melody and feeling that elevate these songs beyond simple indie rock.
NO is out now and you can get it on LP or cassette from Tiny Engines or as a download from the Nanami Ozone Bandcamp page.
