New Montreal four-piece NONI WO are all for newness and reinvention, making maximalist pop music that’s fresh and strange. Their forthcoming record U S B E P is exactly what its name suggests—a seven track EP released on USB key, “an interdisciplinary object designed to satisfy the user through sight, sound, and touch.”
While we can’t speak to the satisfaction of our other senses just yet, the sonic aspect is definitely pleasing. The third single off the EP, “Specter”, comprises a danceable amalgam of eclectic noises. Songwriter Rory Wolf Seydel’s laid-back vocals interlace with electronic drums, bright guitars, big fuzzy sub-bass, and pan flute sounds. For all its layers of instrumentation, it’s a loose, breezy pop track, with the percussion keeping things syncopated and occasional breaks in sound leaving us waiting for the next drop. Meanwhile, Seydel’s lyrics are half-concealed in the slur of his voice—is he saying “Flex my fluids, miss my flight”? The words that we can catch are strangely concrete, tracing the way in which the song hangs comfortably in between this world and some higher plane.
U S B E P will be out October 7 through Montreal label Banko Gotiti. Preorder the USB key here.
