Amazing the music just two men can make. At times grandiose and at times understated, A New Dawn Fades is a two-piece project that stretches their means far beyond what most would think capable. But throughout the course of I See the Nightbirds, Nate McGothlin and PJ Sykes take guitar, drums, ebow, trumpet, bells, and organs, disperse them out over nine songs, and craft some engaging and impressive post-rock that's not to be taken for granted.
It's easy to listen to this band, or any of its ilk, and lump them in with any other act playing the style, but to do that would be to drastically undersell two men whose talents shimmer like the snare drum McGothlin so delicately commands.
The subtleties speak the loudest; a close listen to "The Glories of Summer Camps Past" reveals how unbelievably precise the time they keep is. Each pluck of the guitar strings has a feel more tense and unpredictable than the one before it, and as the song shows, quick hits of distortion and pounding of the base drums are never far around the corner. That's what keeps not only that song, but the album as a whole interesting. Too many post-rock bands fall into the trap of complacency -- their music will sound good, but never exciting and never challenging.
A New Dawn Fades avoids this all too familiar pitfall with an easy solution: variance in song lengths. It seems simple enough, but it's not something that bands always take into account when writing their 'epic' 27-minute songs. "Who's Afraid of the Late Virginia Summers" follows "The Glories"'s harsh crescendo with 30 seconds of delicate ambience that perfectly prefaces the industrial sounds of "Internet vs. Industry, Internet Wins Every Time." Without having to rely on creating something jaw-dropping with each and every track, ANDF can create a cascading atmosphere that exemplifies the beauty so many fall short with. It's a delicate beauty, a beauty that can be easily overlooked if not listening correctly, but it's there. It's always there, in the background of every sweeping bit of instrumentation and the foreground of any ambience that proceeds it.
It'll take some patience and a keen ear to boot, but the rewards are there; the grandeur is there. It's not always loud, and it's not always epic, but it's everything a post-rock record should be. Because above all, it keeps you waiting, waiting for that moment when it all comes to a head, and you're the only one there to listen.
Review by: Anchors
www.punknews.org
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A New Dawn Fades - "I See The Nightbirds"
Instrumental duo A New Dawn Fades doesn't sound like Joy Division, despite the band name. The tracks on I See the Nightbirds range from June of 44 math-rock to Letter E subtlety.
Most of the music consists of just guitar and drums. When first listening to it, I didn't know that the band had only two members and didn't notice the lack of bass or singing. On "Glories of Summer Camps Past" the music starts and ends furiously but its middle section just drifts along with some skilled, inflected beats backing a few guitar notes. In the hands of lesser musicians a passage like this would have quickly become boring but a New Dawn Fades knows how to introduce enough small variations to keep you involved.
On tracks like "Internet vs. Industry, Internet Wins Every Time" the guitar has been replaced with a keyboard and the drums have an echo to fill the space. It's a short track, as are a few others, and that's probably because the band knows better than to wear out its welcome with silly repetition. Opener "No Experts On Big Things" could easily be a Mercury Program cut. Its melodic "choruses" show the same understated guitar virtuosity that Mercury Program and Aerial M's Dave Pajo give us. Clean guitar with a few well chosen notes -- the recipe that goes against a lot of math rock, where the quantity of sound can outweigh the quality of note choice.
"He Carried A Whip In His Trotter" has a quietly modulated synth foundation overlaid with some interesting bell-like percussion and e-bowed guitar. That's all there is to it, but it sounds full, and its mix of sadness and hope make it soundtrack material. Title track "I See the Nightbirds" has a similar guitar approach to that on "No Experts," where the emphasis during the "verses" emphasize note choice and timing. It revs up here and there and it finishes the way "Summer Camps Past" does -- going out with a bang.
The record ends with "Neornithes Returns." Its acoustic guitar and strings set it apart from the other tracks sonically but not thematically. A New Dawn Fades represents the sound of rock musicians who realized that you can say as much with orchestrated instrumentals as you can with a pounding sonic assault.
David Smith (Delusions of Adequacy www.adequacy.net)
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A New Dawn Fades
I See the Nightbirds
A New Dawn Fades (yes that is a Joy Division reference) are a two-piece from Richmond Virginia, who has been kicking jams out for a while. The Guitar player P.J. Sykes loops mathy riffage reminiscent of Slint and Cancer Conspiracy, over each other, to form walls of sound. His ability to write those slightly discordant/oddly melodic riffs that sound amazing and you can't figure out why, just mock you because you know you can never write something so good.
He also plays bass, trumpet, piano, and percussion on the album to fill out the sound. The drummer Nathan McGlothin is plain and simple, a pure beast on the drums. Whether he is pounding out a simple beat to, or a complicated polyrhythm on some instrument you've never heard, he is always sounds like he is banging everything out with 1000% conviction and a force that makes you wonder how he doesn't break everything he sets his hand on.
The new album I Can See The Nightbirds, is nine-track, 23-minute adventure through to two member's minds. The album covers more ground than most bands can hope to do in 5 albums. From song-to-song melodies transform from mathy buildups to looped ambience to post-rock like crescendos and peaks. Every riff and idea on the album develops and changes with deliberation, nothing is played for too long or too short, and all the songs flow into each other, distinctly their own while being connected still. Nothing is played for its own sake; every note has a musical purpose. When people say an album is "mature" I think this is what they are trying to say. Although I'm not sure if the album has a story, but it sure feels like it. The album ends with an acoustic guitar and violin played Melissa Sunderland slowly dancing around each other in lament of the end of the album, like a story coming to an end, and a somber funeral being held. To conclude, it's one of the most original and listenable records to come out in a long time, from one of the most original and listenable bands to come out in a long time.
Buy this record it's amazing, and P.J. and Nathan are some of the nicest guys I've ever met…..and see them live, it is mind-blowing. I promise.
-DB (www.relativetheoryrecords.com)
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A New Dawn Fades
"I See the Nightbirds" CD
NFI (www.nfilabel.com) / Alone Records (www.alonerecords.com)
I first saw A New Dawn Fades last summer at the Nanci Raygun & immediately latched on to the ethereal sound of the two-piece, instrumental outfit.
The feedback & sustains that hovered over guitarist PJ Sykes' melodies confused me like Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer.
How the hell did he do both at the same time & never manage to compromise the integrity of the other?
My primitive mind can't grasp these concepts.
The drummer, Nathan McGlothlin, is something else all together: without his nonchalant style & insane precision (the man doesn't put a wrong beat down) the band wouldn't exist: truly the sum was superior to the parts.
I'm sometimes apprehensive about whether a band can pull off the same intensity when it comes to recording: too often the energy is lost in the translation.
For their first full length release, "I See the Nightbirds", ANDF have answered an atheist's prayers & given me one of my favorite albums of the year thus far. The LP opens with "No Experts On Big Things", which does a bang up job of illustrating the subtle & subdued way the pair weave with each other. "Glories of Summer Camps Past" & "I Remember When This Town Was a Good Place To Grow Up" are the filet of the album.
For anyone who's' a sucker for bands that don't need to say something to say something.
- Joe Gavin
rvamag.com
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Having sold out a small stack of 7" releases and CDEPs on their own Cherub Records, Richmond's A NEW DAWN FADES is set to release their album, I See the Nightbirds, on the Alone and NFI imprints this fall. The instrumental Richmond duo has been known for sticking hard to the road, where they've gained a reputation for wowing audiences with their improvisational and experimental performances. No stiff limbed scarecrows on stage, the band forces the audience to take an interactive part in the music, throwing out makeshift instruments like pots, bits of sheet metal or car parts, the clamor of which, in no small way, influences the direction of the band's improvisational pieces. The boundaries between the performer and the audience are further blurred as both musicians often walk among the crowd, playing along with, and conducting the makeshift orchestra. Be warned: at an A NEW DAWN FADES show no unwitting audience member is safe from direct involvement in the performance
Having sold out a small stack of 7" releases and CDEPs on their own Cherub Records, Richmond's A New Dawn Fades is set to release their album, "I See the Nightbirds," on the Alone and NFI imprints this fall. Mastered by Chad Clark (Fugazi, Beauty Pill), "I See The Nightbirds" buzzes with pretty, singsong guitar lines that burst into noise and feedback, and rhythm that alternately paces the songs beautifully, or drives them to the teetering brink and back again.
RevHQ
Normally I would gush about A New Dawn Fades, but I wouldn't be able to do justice to the tracks from the new album, so you should probably just listen to those and then realize that you've made a horrible mistake by not attending their shows religiously.
- Landis (RVA Magzine)
Indie punk-rock group A New Dawn Fades promises to have a good handle on the sound that we will all care about not just now but five or ten years down the line. They do this by enacting a strict policy of awesome riffs, stellar vibes, and incredible lyrics. Wrapping it in a bow of tight drumming, noisy guitars, and monolithic approaches to songwriting, A New Dawn Fades makes sure that we realize that we will owe them a lot in the future. After all, how will 2040 really explain their music scene?
- J-Sin (Smother.net)
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I just got this album in the mail and have finished listening to it for the first time. This is the first recording I've ever heard of A New Dawn Fades. I know both members of the Virginia based duo, Nathan (drums) being my partner in crime at N/A, and PJ (guitar) through shows, etc. ANDF's most notable influence, to my ears at least, is Roadside Monument. Although ANDF is purely instrumental, PJ's writing reminds me a lot of the short-term math/emo/indie rock sound of Roadside Monument, Frodus, etc. After seeing these guys live a couple times, it's quite interesting to hear how they sound recorded. Live performances tend to be slightly improvisational and alluring in a way that wouldn't really come through in a recording. This album blew me away. I was surprised to hear a couple songs in there which have almost an electronic/ambient feel to them. It gives a very good dynamic to the album as a whole and works wonderfully. Songs like "The Glories of Summer Camps Past" have a jazz influence, while the closing song, "The Neornithes Returns" has more of a laid back sound with acoustic guitar and cello. These guys have been working together for a while and it's quite apparent that they've found their niche on this album. A great debut on NFI and a definite implication that these boys ain't finished yet.
-Aaron Bell (N/A)
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See The Nightbirds buzzes with pretty, singsong guitar lines that burst into noise and feedback, and rhythm that alternately paces the songs beautifully, or drives them to the teetering brink and back again. Mainly guitar and drums, the band augments their studio sound with bells, organs and trumpet, and even add a beautifully ethereal cello on closer, 'The Neornithes Returns.'
- www.sugarandspice.fr
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Shimmering guitars, assertive polyrhythmic drumming, and a languorous bass line summon all the ennui and angst of adolescent summers on the aptly titled "Glories of Summer Camps Past," one of the best tracks on A New Dawn's second full length album. These improvised songs aren't in a rush to get anywhere, and in their slow, deliberate building up of steam they create a genuine sense of drama.
www.jr.com
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A New Dawn Fades "I See The Nightbirds"
The opening of first track 'No experts on big things' really really sounds like a Jeniferever song off that EP from a while ago...
A New Dawn Fades are one of the best discoveries-via-getting-it-for-review bands I've heard in a while. From Richmond (Virginia, I assume, where every band seems to be from these days..), their debut album on Alone covers an impressive amount of ground for a duo. Some tracks such as the opener and 'Glories of Summer Camps Past' are reminiscent of Tristeza although with a stronger influence from the somewhat freeform drumming, which builds momentum into explosive Russian Circles-esque moments.
Others feel complex and twist in a post-punk influenced fashion, with the off-kilter feel which wouldn't be out of place on a Don Caballero or Oxes record. All these influences and reference points don't really help much though as essentially A New Dawn Fades end up sounding like none of them. The album is punctuated with minute long bursts such as 'Internet vs Industry, Internet wins every time' (what sort of message they trying to convey there then..), which just give to show the untraditional, experimental feel of a band who can still write songs and as well. The multitude of instruments on show (some kind of organ, trumpets, quirky percussion) is just another aspect which makes A New Dawn Fades something quite special.
8/10
Ellen - thecommunion.co.uk
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core: 5.5/10
If Nashville, Tennessee is the American 'home of country music,' then surely Richmond, Virginia must lay claim to being the post-rock capital of the USA Gregor Samsa, Labradford, Souvenir's Young America and Tulsa Drone all hail from this relatively small city, and so too do instrumental duo A New Dawn Fades. Don't let the fact that the band's name is taken from a Joy Division song put you off; it's actually not all that bad.
For obvious reasons, there aren't many instrumental acts with only two members, but there is an undeniable devotion to PJ Sykes and Nathan McGlothlin's music which more than compensates for the lack of numbers. Drums and guitar are the only instruments that get much of a look-in here, although multi-instrumentalist Sykes occasionally sees fit to down guitar in favor of percussion, bass, brass, or piano. I See the Nightbirds is a 24-minute album - yes, it's being marketed as an album - but I seem to get a feeling of d..j.. vu. Is it an album? An EP? A mini-album? There are nine tracks, but it's barely longer than an episode of The Simpsons. Anyway, I digress. I See The Nightbirds blends the chilled melodies of The Mercury Program and Signal Hill with the frenetic fretwork of You.May.Die.In.The.Desert, at times even straying close to math-rock territory, such as with "The Glories Of Summer Camps Past". A New Dawn Fades flits between styles in each of the nine songs, although disappointingly there is a lot of filler material, with three sub-minute tracks and only four songs with any real substance.
Trying to find an instrumental rock act with completely fresh ideas is a near impossible task nowadays. A New Dawn Fades is not the most original of bands, it must be said, and I can't see I See The Nightbirds making a permanent mark with very many listeners. However, it's succinct, snappy and, if the truth be told, quite an enjoyable listen. Go on, give it a try.
-Richard White (thesilentballet.com)
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The debut CD from Virginia's A New Dawn Fades, I See The Nightbirds, is a life preserver for the music fan that doesn't need a singer and loves to dive headfirst into the music. Stylistically, ANDF is a tough one to describe. To compare them with a well-known act would prove fruitless, since the band changes like a chameleon from song to song and sometimes during the same song.
The opening track, "No Experts On Big Things," echoes the atmospheric musical landscape of Godspeed You Black Emperor but manages to not get as longwinded. The band crafts a free-standing musical story in the same time it takes to play a pop song. The band's love of and influence by Fugazi is prevalent on "Glories of Summer Camps Past." ANDF gets a little more experimental on the last couple of tracks. "He Carried Whip in His Trotter" is built upon a simple percussion track that sounds like someone tapping on a can. Normally, that would sound horrible but here it's very intoxicating and hypnotizes you until the rest of the music envelopes you.
Interspersed between the songs are one-minute tracks that serve as a bridge. The songs are strong enough on their own, but with these bridges, the album comes across as one giant piece. The best compliment one can give this band is that all four members seem to act as one. The are no soaring guitar or drum solos that shine a spotlight on one person. The music has an almost jam-y feel to it, since it sound so organic and stream-of-consciousness. The band will play SXSW this year, and then the rest of the world will hear how great they are and they'll surely become the darlings of Pitchfork or AP. Until then, remember who told you about them first.
Scott Whitt - www.spacecityrock.com
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With a name like this you'd be pretty certain that they were a bad emo-metal band. Thankfully that is the farthest thing from the truth. But still, they might want to think about changing the name. So these two guys make mostly instrumental music that would really benefit from having a singer a lot of the time. They cover an array of styles and on a couple of songs its kind of a straight up rock n roll style (hence, the addition of vocals would help). On other songs they rely on melodic passages and some organ to compliment the songs. That stuff sounds a little better on its own. Plus I was listening to this while driving to Albany, so it sort of made passing by the little towns on the Thruway, and the rolling hills have their own soundtrack.
(NFI/ Alone Records, www.nfilabel.com/ www.alonerecords.com)
Hanging Like a Hex (hanginghex.com)