‘So Far Gone’ is the new single from Metz frontman Alex Edkins’ side project Weird Nightmare. Metz, like Edkins, are signed to the emperors of all things alternative Sub Pop.
The accompanying press release describes the single as an ‘exuberant blast of fun-as-hell, melodic indie rock that mixes equal parts Replacements, Teenage Fanclub, and Edkins’ own METZ-ian snarl’. Well Quite.
For me there is a marked difference to Metz’s material. Whereas Metz offer an intense, sonic blast of vivid industrial and desolate raw post punk, Weird Nightmare are certainly more beholden to a warmer and more melodic classic indie sound. There’s certainly an element of post punk influences in the single, seemingly taken from a place from the classic heyday of 80’s indie. The sounds of those iconic bands just oozes and seeps through, take your pick from The Psychedelic Furs, Lloyd Cole, the House of Love and maybe just a small pinch of Jesus and the Mary Chain thrown in.
Already a songwriter of some repute, the toe tapping up-beat nature of ‘So Far Gone’ is in stark contrast to the sometime apocalyptic landscapes portrayed by Metz’s sound. It’s jangly, in a good way, and unashamedly a throwback to a time when indie music was king of the sub-cultures. This more melodious version of Edkins is something he is well suited to since the record becomes progressively more listenable the more you play it.
Edkins tours North America this Winter and hopefully we’ll find space for Weird Nightmare on these shores soon.
Play It When –
Play it when you’ve just split up with significant other and need something sad which simultaneously allows your pain to exist but is upbeat enough to demonstrate to your inner voice that you have got a future, and everything will be alright. Its uplifting in that sad indie way. It’s the kind of track which forced us all to find proper music in the first place.