Photo by Colin Medley.
In advance of its February 5 release, The FADER is premiering Nap Eyes‘ Thought Rock Fish Scale. Jump in and stream here.
The eight songs on Thought Rock Fish Scale were the first that we ever heard from Nap Eyes—thanks to our friends Tamara Lindeman of The Weather Station and Steve Lambke of You’ve Changed, whose peerless ears are acutely attuned to the finest frequencies in Canadian music—and the enigmatic, crystalline songwriting immediately floored us. There’s something strangely familiar but utterly singular about the cautious wit and vulnerability at play here, a kind of gut-wrenching nostalgia for something that doesn’t quite exist, but should. It’s an oceanic sound, briney and brisk, that manages both to fully inhabit and to deconstruct guitar pop genres, pinging some favorite coordinates—everything from the spiny duality of the Go-Betweens to the ache of the Only Ones to the minimalist poetry of Robert Lax—without actually sounding very much like anything else. There are times when “Alaskan Shake” feels like it is a song about everything that matters.
Nigel Chapman of Nap Eyes is also the only person in our lives who is equally (un)comfortable and insightful discussing Omar Khayyam, Carl Jung, and biochemistry.
Pre-order now (use coupon code NAPEYES to get 20% off their debut LP Whine of the Mystic until Feb. 5)
$9.00 – $30.00
Here’s what The FADER says:
The year’s first classic indie rock album. For my money, Nap Eyes are one of the best rock bands in business today, handily spanning the space between Bob Dylan and The Microphones. Nigel Chapman’s songwriting grips like the best of them. A timeless release, already. Damn near faultless.
– Duncan Cooper, The FADER
Chapman has been compared to Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and Jonathan Richman, among other singularly compelling singer-songwriters. If tracks like “Roll It,” “Mixer,” and the seven-minute epic “Lion in Chains” are any indication, this album is only going to cement Chapman’s status as one of the most fascinating songwriters we have today.
– Newsweek
LISTEN TO NAP EYES’ THOUGHT ROCK FISH SCALE
NAP EYES TOUR DATES
Mon. Mar. 7 – Allston, MA @ Great Scott
Tue. Mar. 8 – Hudson, NY @ The Half Moon
Wed. Mar. 9 – Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool
Thu. Mar. 10 – Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle
Fri. Mar. 11 – Washington, DC @ DC9
Sat. Mar. 12 – Durham, NC @ The Pinhook
Sun. Mar. 13 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
Wed. Mar. 16-Fri. Mar. 18 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
Sun. Mar. 20 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
Mon. Mar. 21 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
Tue. Mar. 22 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill
Thu. Mar. 24 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
Fri. Mar. 25 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza
Sat. Mar. 26 – Vancouver, BC @ Media Club
Mon. Mar. 28 – Calgary, AB @ Palomino Smokehouse and Social Club
Tue. Mar. 29 – Edmonton, AB @ Brixx Bar & Grill
Wed. Mar. 30 – Saskatoon, SK @ Amigo’s Cantina
Fri. Apr. 1 – Winnipeg, MB @ The Good Will Social Club
Sat. Apr. 2 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry
Sun. Apr. 3 – Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle
Mon. Apr. 4 – Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop
Tue. Apr. 5 – Lakewood, OH @ Mahall’s
Thu. Apr. 7 – Toronto, ON @ The Garrison
Fri. Apr. 8 – Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo
*all dates with Cian Nugent
PRAISE FOR NAP EYES
“Nap Eyes moves from psych-riffs to astrophysicists; from Rubaiyatic poetry to punctuated bass, in easy fluid motions. Chapman’s calm, steady voice can be as pained as Bob Dylan’s, and his lyrics can be just as profound.”
– Noisey
“Unkempt rock songs that are steeped in tradition yet impossible to pin down. Nigel Chapman sings with an observational deadpan that echoes back to the likes of Lou Reed, Jonathan Richman, and David Berman. This guy spends his days studying the infinite complexity of seemingly simplistic cells, and his songs function the same way. There are worlds inside [these] little three-chord lament[s].”
“Whine of the Mystic is a necessarily dense title for a band like Nap Eyes, its multitudes containing additional multitudes. This is a drinker’s album, for the kind of drinker who does so alone, publicly, poring over popular 11th-century tomes.”
“Nap Eyes’ 2014 LP Whine of the Mystic was a brainy sort of daydream. Built on the genteel lilt of windswept electric guitars, swooning dramatic tension, and songwriter Nigel Chapman’s bookish lyricism, it felt sorta like falling asleep with a Velvets record playing in the distance and your nose in some weighty tome. It was deftly written indie pop… ‘Mixer’…brings with it the promise of more rambling romanticism.”
– SPIN
“It’s easy to imagine Lou Reed’s ghost giving Nap Eyes his gruffly benevolent blessing, impressed by their unvarnished diarizing in lean, art-pop songs that channel his spirit. But along with kitchen-sink detail, there’s real poignancy in the Canadians’ second set. Astutely played, instant charmers.”
– Uncut
“It’s almost a relief to hear the stoical guitar-bass-drums simplicity of this quartet. Concise, understated alt rock with cryptic, literate lyrics for Go-Betweens/Bill Callahan fans.”
– MOJO (4/5 stars)
“Nap Eyes are one of my favourite bands in Canada. Four cats from Halifax recording lazy, range rock’n’roll… a marauding dissertation on what we know and how we know it. Nigel Chapman sings his lines with a certain distance, Father Superior and his riddles, but the band is affectless, profane, casual as a bowl of cereal. I figure this is usually the way with gurus: well-spoken long-hairs and their roving, loyal, merry men.”