A Place to Bury Strangers: "It Is Nothing"

I was listening to the first track off the new A Place to Bury Strangers (APBS) album and I was all “This sounds so much like the first track off My Bloody Valentine’s (MBV) Isn’t Anything (1988)” and then I looked closer and saw that the name of the track was “It Is Nothing.” I’m not quite sure how self-conscious APBS are about so closely, blatantly thieving a sound that not only came before them but assumedly defines them, but my inclination is to think that these guys are just having fun. And so I consume their music—this not-bringing-anything-new-to-the-table (NBANTTT) hardy meal with exceptional taste—with a snarky grain of salt. If you are into the bent-note, reverbed beauty of everything MBV and the Jesus and Mary Chain (JAMC), then APBS is without question your immediate prescription (or menu choice, if you prefer your metaphors un-mixed). “It Is Nothing” starts off with screeching guitars and fast-paced faux drum machine percussion; those layered, almost intelligible vocals kick in. The ideas here aren’t indulging in lyricism and introspection; the ideas here are affectation and unrelenting atmosphere, a full, congealing blast, in total, of hyper shoegaze activity, pausing only briefly for a few moments of guitar sans bass and drums before the cacophony kicks back in, reassured in such chiaroscuro. All said, it is nothing (wink wink) you (we) haven’t heard before but damn if it isn’t something you (we) want to hear again. I’m inclined to tell this band to listen to more Film School—another group that pillages the same influences but is better at making that sound less of a violation—but what’s the point? These guys probably wouldn’t listen to me anyway; they’ve brutalized their ears.