“Dissonant yet melodious, rambunctious yet taut, volatile yet cool.” That’s how we described Rotterdam post-punks Library Card back in October when single ‘Cognitive Dissonance’ gave the first glimpse of upcoming release Nothing, Interesting. “An examination of the competing forces which coexist within us,” as we put it, “an internal struggle between the desire to be selfish and altruistic.” This commitment to nuance and contradiction was established with the band’s debut single ‘Mirror Factory’ which sounded at once weary and volatile, as well as ‘Sunflowers‘, where Lot van Teylingen’s delivery managed to evokes earnest and deadpan tones almost simultaneously.
The new release sees the band—van Teylingen (vocals), Mitchell Quitz (guitar), Kat Kalkman (bass) and Emre Karayalçin (drums)—further hone this style. “Nothing, Interesting explores themes of love and loss,” van Teylingen explains. “Often intertwined with a growing fear of not being able to keep up with the world as we know it. However, in this process it’s essential to embrace the absurdity of existence, and not take it too seriously.” Library Card explore these feelings in numerous way, such as via the aforementioned dualities of ‘Cognitive Dissonance’, or the furious ‘Well, Actually’ with its scathing comment on the patriarchal tendencies of an audience to offer unsolicited advice, and delivered with a sound which swings between anxious post-punk to soaring post-rock.
With Nothing, Interesting being released later this week on At Ease, Library Card have unveiled final single ‘For The World Is Hollow’ by way of introduction. It’s a track which coils with taut potential, rising from rushed drums and spilling over into weighty breakdowns that never quite puncture the twitchy rhythm. The vocals offer a range spanning the stages of grief, starting with real needle before settling into a hauntingly melancholic acceptance by the close. “I’ve heard death described as the introduction of ink into water,” as van Teylingen sings. “It isn’t an absence, it is an expansion.”
Watch the video directed by Kalkman themselves below:
Nothing, Interesting is out on the 15th March via At Ease and you can pre-order it now from the Library Card Bandcamp page.
Artwork by Lot van Teylingen