Neck Chop Records, 23 October 2020
NANCY sort of goes country for a moment, then breaks into rambunctious power pop punk.
NANCY Goes Country on the new record, but only for a fleeting moment. See, the opener plays up the country angle admirably, tossing in some accents and slide guitar. But then the real NANCY shows, playing around with tons of spark, loads of hooks, and some nasally angst that brings to mind first-run bands like Ramones, The Dickies, and The Buzzcocks while also giving off some strong Steve Adamyk Band vibes. It’s pop punk, but pop punk with a distinctly garage aesthetic.
Goes Country leans hard into the “cowboy” theme on the opener “Going Country”. The song is a straight up no joke country song with a rambling pace and slide guitar and oodles of twang. Even the vocals give off an accent. But the lyrics give away the plot at hand and betray any sense of a true country turn with lines about “trading the axe for a slide guitar”. It’s really the only major deviation from an otherwise hyper set of songs, and it’s excellent placement at the start gets a smile and wink out of the way right away before taking us down a punk path.
My favorite stuff on Goes Country brings together all the speed and energy I can handle without letting the hooks fade away. The awesome descending melodies on “Take A Pikksha” smash against the 8th-note hi-hats on “Where Did My Friend Go” and the dueling lead guitars and disheveled hooks ending each verse on the mid-tempo “NVR Play Tennis With U” come in nicely after the bouncy pop punk hooks of wrestling tribute “Capn Lou”. Later, “When All Countries Fall In Luv”’s catchy hooky blasts erupt from a slower countryfied opening while “Chewin Bubblegum” works in a little boogie guitar before giving way to sticky guitar squalls and a fantastic bridge. But my favorite of the bunch is probably “Luv Letter” with its cool guitar line and popping bass. The stuttered “love letter love love love letter to you” chorus won’t go away any time soon and the lead guitar melody is to die for. Again, just a lot of great Ramones, Buzzcocks, and Steve Adamyk vibes, and I’m not one to argue with that.
Goes Country does it for me. It’s a fun record with a ton of nervous energy. If you like your pop punk with jittery angst and a touch of manic panic, NANCY might hit just right.
Favorite song: “LuvLetter”
Favorite moment: the catchy blast that blows up when “When All Countries Fall in Luv” shifts from a sort of mid-tempo country-fied song to a pop punk ripper
Favorite whatever else: the faux-tribute slide guitar that’s slathered all over leadoff “Going Country”
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He’s very secretive, he might be an alien.
