Let's ignore any consequences NONONO might face for, well, being called NONONO, which could've been conceived by a teenager still suffering from mid-2000s Myspace era emo disease -- talk to your doctor immediately if you're suffering from any of the symptons too obvious to list. And let's just talk about the Swedish trio's (un)anticipated debut studio album, We Are Only What We Feel, for aLet's ignore any consequences NONONO might face for, well, being called NONONO, which could've been conceived by a teenager still suffering from mid-2000s Myspace era emo disease -- talk to your doctor immediately if you're suffering from any of the symptons too obvious to list. And let's just talk about the Swedish trio's (un)anticipated debut studio album, We Are Only What We Feel, for a paragraph or two. Because that's probably all it'll take.
The lead single, "Pumpin Blood", received moderate radio airplay earlier this year, which -- in the same vain as indietronica bands such as M83 and MGMT -- relies less on lyricism (you wouldn't hear them from frontwoman Stina Wappling's seemingly breathy, moaning vocals, anyway) and more on its infectious whistling hook and Of Monsters and Men-esque folk charm. Then you have the opening "Jungle", which has influences from every Swedish electronic musician(s) ever, and "Echo", which guides curious club goers off the dancefloor and into an Ellie Goulding like delight of a trance and could pass off as the greatest song on the album.
But here's the shocker: despite all the aforementioned aspects, which have all created the careers of a number of popular indietronica acts, We Are Only What We Feel not only missed the upper regions of the charts in any country by a mileshot, it wasn't even an iconic success, receiving more mixed to negative reviews from music critics and not enough listeners to consider them a "cult" fanbase. Why? Here's the answer: I just answered it in the last paragraph; NONONO completely based their "signature" sound around the millions of sounds musical acts old and new have created, complicated, and perfected as recent as this year. The musical structure becomes tedious too soon and whoever in the trio are responsible for the songwriting have the lyrical insight of the teenage girl I mentioned way up above. It's a disappointment too, considering none of the songs on the album reach a colossal amount of good or bad.
Recommending NONONO to any of my friends seems to become a bit of a bore, because I know I won't receive a significant reaction; not even a punch on the shoulder for maybe like it. And that's terrifying territory to be in, whether you're on the good or bad side of the reaction. Nobody's calling Rebecca Black's 2011 viral hit "Friday" a work of art, but it drew out a major chain of reactions, didn't it? We Are Only What We Feel gives the listener the faux idea that they're about to hear something either really deep or really stupid. Spoiler alert, it's neither. But if you're into chill vibes, polished indie pop, hooks galore, and nonsensical lyrics that are almost always pinned in by production, give it a listen next time you're on Spotify and don't rule them out just yet. A quirky name like NONONO has to have some sort of lasting impact they might not have found just yet.… Expand
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