Stalgia - Nomad

Stalgia
Nomad
2017
Spotify

The opening song on Stalgia's debut record Nomad is a bit of a roller coaster. When it begins you think you are going to be taken on a real dark, industrial and experimental journey, but then suddenly becomes something else once the vocals drop in. It's almost a Lana Del Rey type of experience but with trap drums just for good measure. "In the Trees" is hell of a way to start a record and leaves some pretty damn lofty expectations for what is about to come next. Well next is a pretty straight up electropop song called "Electric". It has none of what the first song had, none of those really dark vibes and instead feels about as pop as anything else. It's an abrupt shift and one that does not benefit the record. Their songs can stand on their but tying the album together as a unit is a struggle right from the outset. With this in mind you have to almost have to breakdown the album track by track, not really in the spirit of this project, but a necessity for music like this. "Bdy" also ventures into new territory with an almost acoustic-ish intro which spills into an Ariana Grande type of pop song I guess? It's a strange song right in the middle of the record which doesn't quite relate to anything and is nowhere near as interesting as the album's opener. "Euphoria" feels like a simple slow pop song, with the occasional trap drum peppered in. It slows Nomad to an almost glacial pace barely able to pull itself along. Even when the bpm's are turned up a little "Heaven + Mimosas" it still is nowhere near a place to pull you out of this heaviness. 

It's for that reason that the middle section of this record becomes such a slog. Just four or five tracks of the exact same vibe, the exact same pace and only really slight changes in instrumentation. "Talk to My Skin" has this really big ending with woompy electronics but even that attempt feels half assed and misguided. The record never lives up to the expectations it sets for itself and really is content to sort of move along without making all too much of an impact. The thing that is the most frustrating is how right on the edge of something really good they are. Their sound could be big and all-consuming but they reign it in for god who knows what reason. Even if they were going for a more trip hop style a la Verite they would need to shift things darker or more sultry. "NOMAD" the albums closer ups the tempo a bit but only for the briefest of moments. There just is not enough on Nomad that really connects or pushes this music forward. Can't recommend this one, or really any of the songs, it just misses. 

4.0 out of 10