West of Ireland trio Nerves release lead single Empty from upcoming EP Glórach

Track: Empty

Band: Nerves

Released: January 12 2024

Only two weeks into January, and we have already had a release from one of the up-and-coming big hitters of the post punk/alt/indie/garage punk/noise (delete adjectives as you see fit) scene in Ireland - the none more nominative deterministic Sprints with their speedy debut album Letter To Self.

Now we have the coruscating new single Empty from Irish West Coast trio Nerves, who inhabit a similar field in many a mind's eye as purveyors of ‘post punk’ - hell they have even share a producer in Gilla Band's Daniel Fox.

And yet for us they are miles apart. Sprints have the early energy and politics of new wave and punk - The Jam for instance - whereas Nerves have the angular intensity of Bauhaus, Siouxsie or The Birthday Party.

They combine graceful segments of glacial near silence with fuzzing and sibilant guitar, drums and pummelling bass; and at times crushing loudness with an industrial intensity reminiscent of Einstürzende Neubauten or DAF.

Empty is a brutalist slab of heavily effected droning guitar and bass, corrosive blasts of feedback and gut-wrenching vocals

The band themselves say "Empty is a brutalist slab of heavily effected droning guitar and bass, corrosive blasts of feedback and gut-wrenching vocals centred around the persistence of grief over time. Its B section is an industrial build of metallic soundscapes and harrowing vocal samples."

Nerves have married gothic punk soundscapes and industrial overtones, lyrics dealing with loss and mental health in the rural West and a visual aesthetic seeped in its inherent Irish sensibilities. Death, degradation and emigration in Ireland are themes that are bound to the DNA of Empty and the EP Glórach.

Maybe Nerves have their own nominative determinism thing going on - if you have never had a breakdown this is what it sounds like. The insistent tapping of your mind undermining you, out of control at times, occasionally quieted, maybe by substances, but ‘it’ always comes roaring back for more.

Empty is the first single and first track (after a short vocal sample) from Nerves’ debut EP Glórach. Which - guess what? - is noisy in Irish. Nerves and noisy - yep there’s some self manifesting going on.

Empty is a brilliant introduction to the EP - we have heard it all and it's dynamite.

Other reviews

,The Sounds Won't Stop

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and never miss out on gig info and our latest deals