No Age: "Glitter"

The past few years have been good to No Age. The LA duo was signed to Sub Pop on the heels of their debut 2007 collection Weirdo Rippers, and the ensuing album Nouns (2008) had critics, hipsters, and fellow indie rockers crying “best new band.” Not content to sit back and let the praise roll in, guitarist Randy Randall and singer/drummer Dean Spunt continued to tour heavily and record new music, including last year’s Losing Feeling EP and the upcoming full length Everything in Between. Oh yeah, and they also had a clothing line and a killer video. Success like this naturally leads to trepidation. The same hipper-than-thou fans that made No Age can break them with the flick of an anemic wrist over a touchscreen. As it stands now, however, things look good for the band. No Age has always been a well-balanced marriage of Spunt and Randall’s punk roots and a lo-fi pop sound, beginning with ingratiating hooks and then drowning them in noise, and Everything in Between‘s first single, “Glitter,” is true to their sound but subtly more accessible.

Quieter and more conventionally melodic than Nouns, “Glitter” is closer in style to the songs on Losing Feeling. The song kicks off unexpectedly with some Bow Wow Wow-style handclaps, but settles quickly into that murky No Age sound. Randall’s chugging guitar barely announces itself, and the song’s luster lies in one fuzzy, screeching ambient layer that grows in intensity over the chorus, blotting out the coherence of the verses. Spunt’s vocals are clearer and more intelligible than ever, though at the same time pointedly affectless. The low tremble of his voice acts in stark contrast with the song’s piercing hook as he chants, “I want you back underneath my skin.”

“Glitter” resists the liveliness of Nouns anthems “Eraser,” “Teen Creeps,” and “Sleeper Hold” and acts as more of a slow burn. It’s a less exuberant sound, and maybe a more mature one. The band has inched towards greater accessibility without sacrificing any of their trademark noise. But maybe that’s to be expected: No Age hasn’t toyed too much with their winning formula, and so something tells me 2010 is going to treat them well.