More Nothing has all the hallmarks of a quickly recorded debut by a young band with lots going for them. Baby In Vain fall nicely into the dark guitar rock genre that Scandinavia is very good at producing. Recorded over eleven days at Eve Studios with producer Rob Ellis (P.J. Harvey, Scott Walker, Bat For Lashes), More Nothing is a mixed set of eleven tracks that is very much deserving of a listen.
There are some genuine highlights on this album. These are the tracks in which the three members of Baby In Vain become more than a sum of their parts. The aptly titled ‘Transcendent’ is certainly one of these. There is an insistent thrum of a guitar that overrides pretty much everything, creating its own metallic world. Coupled with the hum of the vocal that intones ‘It’s all right’ and the buzz of the other guitars, it’s like having My Bloody Valentine remove the hair on the back of your neck with the electric clippers.
Baby In Vain just about balance light and dark in the extended ballad ‘She’. The band work fluidly between quieter almost acoustic moments to a waltzer of effects and back again. The rattlesnake of a guitar accompanies lines such as ‘I could hold you to the end but I know you hate to pretend’ and ‘I will never see the sky.’
There are also some quite lovely tracks such as ‘Low Life’. Initially a bare electric guitar strumming alongside a simple melodic vocal, it is reminiscent of The Cardigans. It is much more pensive in mood and, even after the other instruments come in, maintains the gentlest and palest of sunshines. The album has split vocals between Andrea Thuesen Johansen and Lola Hammerich. The vocal performance on ‘Low Life’ is the true guide on this track. As it is on the short finale ‘I Have Your Eyes’, ‘I have your smile to show me what it is to be alive’.
There are heavier sections of the album where there are notes of Patti Smith and P.J. Harvey. These are not necessarily its strengths. Charismatic air guitaring of this style is performed so well by bands such as The Franklys who have their own Scandinavian contingent in lead guitarist Fanny Broberg and singer Jen Ahlkvist. To do it well, requires a strong sense of melody that is lacking at times on More Nothing.
The shared vocals also give the album something of a split personality that doesn’t always play to the band’s talents. Whilst good albums always need variety that shouldn’t be at the expense of strengths.
Definitely More Something than More Nothing.
More Nothing is released on 25th August 2017 through Partisan Records.
