Vertigo Days (studio album) by The Notwist

"Vertigo Days" feels like being lightly asleep. The cute guitar and piano will meander around creating a sense of relaxation. On occasion, these will act as little bridges to other tracks of the album. The lyrics call for a vague and youthful reflection of feelings. "Where You Find Me" is the strongest at this with its blissful call to nostalgia. The switching of languages throughout keeps the listener involved. Suddenly, a line will be in Japanese or Spanish and the song will have my attention again. While there is a certain charm, The project lacks a staying power. Once awake, the dream will fade from your mind.

From Mercury 04/29/2021 22:46

(A solid, if somewhat sterile to my ears, Notwist album. Some nice warm and peaceful indie songs with electronic elements.)

It's nice to get reacquainted with The Notwist. I had Neon Golden in my CD player a lot back in the day, never delved into their earlier stuff nor their later stuff and just kinda moved away and forgot about them. Now all these years later here I am hearing those same vocals coldly singing over somewhat similar music.

There is something nice about the warm yet also detached sound of this album. The tones are generally the warm things, intermingled with some electro beats and sounds, thus the genre description of Indietronica (which like most genre tags is stupid and I hate). The way the album, especially at the start, is bound together and flows from one track to the next seamlessly is quite cool. I didn't know I was hearing "Ship (featuring Saya)" until a minute in. The songs themselves are nice and have some cool compositions that build. The instrumentals are layered and yet dignified and I also quite like that. The vocals are the usual detached near-singing. And I am used to this style and its alright but far from a selling point or highlight.

I think generally the album starts nice and then gets kinda draggy tworard the back half or 2/3s. Its a respectable and well recorded album, but its also quite ... plain, I guess. It doesn't fill me with wonder or revelation nor excite me with sharp sounds and moments, its all so delicately crafted to be a nice somewhat dreamy album with no sharp turns or lowlights or highlights. Its just a plain 'ol indietronica Notwist record and I felt a little cold by the end.

Song highlights include the aforementioned "Ship", as well as "Exit Strategy to Myself", "Into Love/Stars", the short little instrumental "Ghost" is quite fun, and "Al Sur" injects some more much needed energy into this album toward the end. Oh and the closing track is a nice closing track, quite pretty, peaceful and somewhat forlorn and world-weary.

Track lowlights (none of which are really bad, just not as high energy or as charming to me as the others) include "Loose Ends" (although it gets nice toward the back end after a meh start), "Into The Ice Age", "Oh Sweet Fire (kinda had a promising start, but loses its steam and by the end I was bored out my mind), "Sans Soleil", "Night's Too Dark" etc... you get it, I was kinda checked out on the second half with few exceptions.

I have a tendency that I've noticed this year to give myself over to new and up-and-coming artists much more than already established artists. If you look at my top 10-20 of this year thus far (its April 29th) its mostly debut albums or sophomore efforts. I'm not sure why this is. I honestly can't put my finger on it. This is a fine indie and electronic album with some good tunes and some really cool tracks but I am overall pretty cold and unmoved by it and not feeling a rise of excitement that I may feel had this been a debut album or by a young group. This isn't fair AT ALL to this group. They are quite impressive in their ability to craft these soundscapes. But, anyway, I just wanted to openly acknowledge my bias. Also this year I have been swerving a lot more to the verges - either super intense and wild or very very slow and methodical, and this album is firmly in that middle zone - occupying a certain professional, vibey indie pop. Good for what it is. But not what I'm gravitating toward these days. I had this album on my "To Listen" list and so here I am, respecting it from a distance with one foot out the door to go listen to some weird Noisy Grindcore album or whatever.

One of my favorites of 2021 so far. How often does a band that deep into their discography come up with such a gem? Its diversity is astounding, both when it comes to mood - it can be slow, melancholic, uplifting etc. - and in terms of styles - its influences range from electronic, folk, jazz, noisy, to some blues even - but it never loses its passion through it all.

Meanders along without ever getting going. A musical stroll along a river bank.