Nice Biscuit – ‘SOS’ album review: Claiming clarity through psychedelia
THE SKINNY: The sophomore album from Brisbane-born psychedelia enthusiasts Nice Biscuit may be named after a distress signal, but it’s anything but. On SOS, the genre-blending five-piece requires no external help. They carve out peace and quiet for themselves amidst psychedelic jazz and disco-inspired grooves, disregarding the never-ending slew of chaos that surrounds us.
The recording process for SOS split the band into two groups, with Kurt Melvin, Nick Cavendish and Jess Ferronato creating the instrumentation before joint vocalists Billie Starr and Grace Cuell linked up for lyrics and harmonies. This strange process of recording finds its way into the final cut of the album — Star and Cuell’s seamless vocal blends sit high above the explosive jams and psychedelic grooves that accompany them — but SOS doesn’t feel disjointed as a result.
While the soundscapes come to represent the unpredictability of the world through drawn-out jams, dense fuzz, rounded synths and occasional moments of quiet, Star and Cuell are committed to rising above it all, vocally and lyrically. Their ethereal harmonies sit softly but securely atop the more chaotic moments and fall into place in the gentler excursions. As they continually reaffirm their claims to calm, the unpredictable soundscapes begin to feel warm and familiar instead.
Lyrically, Star and Cuell ruminate on clarity and silver linings, on transcendental love and peace of mind. But the entire ethos of SOS is summed up in its final song, which acts as a reminder to breathe. It’s an immediate direction that can induce calmness, but it’s also a reminder to take in the good and the band, to breathe in “all that was and all that ever will be.”
For fans of: Reminders that everything will turn out alright. It has to.
A concluding comment from a Nice biscuit: “They’re called what?”
SOS track by track:
Release date: October 4th | Producer: Jess Ferronato | Label: Bad Vibrations
‘The Star’: The opening moments of SOS will have you bookmarking the album for next summer and wondering why Nice Biscuit didn’t opt to release it a couple of months earlier. ‘The Star’ features playful percussion and psychedelic goodness, while dual frontwomen Billie Star and Grace Cuell find peace in acceptance of chaos. “Clarity will come when it arrives,” they shrug. [3.5/5]
‘Love That Takes You Up’: A charming, laid-back groove underscores ‘Love That Takes You Up’, which shows off the masterful harmonies between Star and Cuell. “Planets align, up through my spine, love is alive,” they sing in tandem, charting the otherworldliness of love between enchanting psychedelia. [4/5]
‘SOS’: The upbeat, optimistic feel of the first two tracks gives way to something more sombre on the title track, which strips things back instrumentally with lazy strums and tambourine shakes. But Nice Biscuit’s outlook is still hopeful. “Somewhere inside the silence is your peace of mind,” they affirm. The song flits between these quiet moments and denser repetitions of the album title and distress signal. [3.5/5]
‘Rain’: The longest track on the record, ‘Rain’ sounds like a furious jam taking place on an alien spaceship. It opens with extraterrestrial bleeps before opening up into clashing percussion, raucous guitars and those increasingly enchanting vocal harmonies. “Stop the rain, please don’t stop the rain,” the duo ask, leaning further into the album’s themes of acceptance and finding the calm within the storm. [3.5/5]
‘Moment’: There are some truly enchanting guitar lines throughout the entire runtime of SOS, but the opening twangs of ‘Moment’ are particularly gorgeous. The vocals follow suit, floating high above the pulsing drums to ruminate on silver linings, on beauty and darkness. This song certainly fits into the former category. [4/5]
‘Desolation’: The opening of ‘Desolation’ sets up a new, moodier direction for SOS with reverberating electronics and fuzzy synths, but Nice Biscuit quickly bury them with an explosive collage of jazz and psych influences. It ups the pace of the song, but it might have been more intriguing to enhance that moodier opening rather than delving back into jam-style instrumentation. [3/5]
‘Discomfort’: Less disconcerting than its title suggests, ‘Discomfort’ is a rocker that will have you unwittingly nodding your head along in seconds. Star and Cuell’s vocals still float high above the more classic guitar tones and pulsing rhythm, singing of the inevitability of both pain and bliss. [3.5/5]
‘Fade Away’: ‘Fade Away’ is another song that allows those more rock-friendly guitars to shine, driving the song beneath Star and Cuell’s claims that they are “fading away.” Lyrically, this song feels a little less optimistic than the rest of the album, admitting that we might be passing the point of no return. [3/5]
‘Breathe’: Nice Biscuit close out SOS with the most important reminder of all, to breathe. Not just to breathe in air, but to breathe in all that was and all that ever will be. Guitars ripple beneath them, and sometimes rip through the soundscape, slowly gathering in intensity as the song trudges towards its conclusion. [4/5]
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