In their first recordings released since the critically acclaimed long-player I’m Bad Now, Haligonian heroes Nap Eyes sail an autumnal wind of regret and longing. “Have You Seen the Light” exposes an inscape of illumination and revelation all too rare today. Hate begets hate, and light begets light. Too Bad?
Have you seen the light?
It’s dawning on you
Do you know what it’s like
To hate things because you’re scared they’ll hate you?
“I’ve Always Known You Care” evinces the affections we do not reveal, as the fall leaves fall, with echoes of Hackamore Brick in the spindly guitar lines. Nigel ends the song with a promise for the future: “Oh yeah, you can count on me.”
I have always known you care
Maybe it doesn’t seem like it
The leaves are turning in the air
And you know I hate to lose,
I can’t stand to win
Danika Vandersteen once again made the arresting cover art.
Highlights
- The follow-up to the critically acclaimed I’m Bad Now (2017, PoB-033)
- Available as a digital download or streaming from your choice of platform
- Album page
- Artist page/tour dates/links for Nap Eyes
Tracklist
1. “Have You Seen the Light” 3:55
2. “I’ve Always Known You Care” 4:30
Catalog Number/Release Date
PoB-053 / November 2, 2018
Purchase from PoB above or support via
- Bandcamp (DL/stream)
- Other Options (DL/stream)
More from Nap Eyes
-
Nap Eyes: The Neon Gate
$9.00 – $35.00Nap Eyes: Demons
$1.00 – $2.00Nap Eyes: Feline Wave Race
$3.00 – $4.00Nap Eyes: Snapshot of a Beginner
Videos and Streaming
Acknowledgments
9/10. I’m Bad Now is the real deal… feels as much a modest masterpiece as Spring Hill Fair or Tigermilk. What sets them apart is the fear and trembling in Nigel Chapman’s reedy monotone and guitarist Brad Loughead, who unleashes the full Verlainian screaming bluebird repertoire.
– Stephen Troussé, Uncut
Masters of subtlety. I’m Bad Now slithers through 11 tracks like a phosphorescent python, its diamond-shaped scales emitting both glimmer and gloom.
– Beca Grimm, NPR Music
The band’s warmest and kindest record yet. Not only does Chapman write with more interrogative passion about his inner life than many songwriters twice his age, but here he expands outward, unpacking religious themes on “White Disciple,” pondering connection to others on “You Like to Joke Around With Me,” and wondering what becomes of all our big ideas on the beatific “Sage.” More than ever before the band’s instrumental interplay feels like its own thing, restrained, considered, and riveting. “Please don’t ask me to throw my work away,” Chapman sings over Salter’s rolling bass on album highlight “Judgement,” and it’s clear why. Nap Eyes is doing the best work of its career with I’m Bad Now.
– Jason Woodbury, Aquarium Drunkard
Possibly the catchiest, most immediate thing they’ve ever done, a deceptively thoughtful rocker that ambles along with a little extra verve.
– Peter Helman, Stereogum
Being bad has never felt so good. The real jamming on I’m Bad Now isn’t happening on the fretboards, but in the lyrics. [Chapman] saves his most bon mots for the astounding “White Disciple,” where the religious undercurrents that have always coursed through Nap Eyes’ music roil into a tsunami. Part Pixies bass rumble, part soulful “Beast of Burden” sway, the song proves to be Chapman’s Mangum opus, a breathless meditation on faith and vice that burrows a winding path from Christianity to Hinduism.
– Stuart Berman, Pitchfork
Triangulates the sweet spot between the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Marquee Moon. If that sounds like your thing, I promise that Nap Eyes will be very your thing.
– Stephen Hyden, Uproxx
In just four short years, Nap Eyes have made much ado about meaninglessness with rock ‘n’ roll songs that shake just offbeat and smart lyrics wrapped in bemused ennui.
– Lars Gotrich, NPR Music
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