No Age - Everything In Between (Sub Pop)

Upon listening to Everything In Between, my first reaction was that if Kevin Shields and Steve Albini had a baby, it would be No Age. Their latest is definitely not a departure from Weirdo Zippers or Nouns as the band seems perfectly content in their sonic makeup with no need to push the envelope. If what results is successful, who am I to argue?

“Fever Dreaming,” is a potentially great song as it was definitely the highlight of the set I saw them play when opening for Pavement. But the performance on the record is flat by comparison. The same goes for the first single, “Glitter,”. A strange thing is that two B-sides from their 7” and 12” singles (“Influorescence,” and “In Rebound,”) are more inspired recordings than the A-side or much side A on Everything In Between.

Smack dab in the middle is “Katerpillar”, a nice interlude which leads into what ends up being the stronger half of the album. It leads us down the rabbit hole into a “Valley Hump Crash,” and we never recover. “Sorts,” is also more energetic than the first half. While “Dusted,” is a bit repetitive, it is one of several tracks (like the stellar “Positive Amputation,”) that contain shots of brightness that cut through the din of the feedback with more feedback and show some real growth in the band. The ability to manipulate feedback and distortion into actual composition.

Perhaps the band just chose to do the opposite of what most bands do. A great majority of albums load up their A-side and leave the B-side with the stranger or weaker tracks but No Age demands something more from listeners of Everything In Between: patience. I hope fans and newcomers alike can exercise some of that when hearing this. I think the average fan of No Age will be satisfied by the first half of the album but those who want something more will be pleasantly surprised by the second and plenty of Everything In Between.