Having dug Buffalo, NY singer, guitarist, and keyboardist Bill Nehill’s “art blues/avant country” duo The Guilty Few’s 2023 LP Godless. Guiltless. The Guilty Few. with Cory Nealon, his longer-running (since 2016) pair-up with cement glyph artist and electronics wiz Ed Hallborg — also known as Pieces N/H — is vastly different. This third LP (following 2017’s Pieces 1 and 2018’s Pieces 2) is that rare wildebeest: a synth-pop/darkwave album that is equally suited for the dance floor and intent at-home listening. Comparisons to Cabaret Voltaire and early Ministry (think “Halloween”) are apt, on the blippy, robotic opener “Kaleidoscope Paisley” and the Laid Back “White Horse”-evoking “35 Houses.”
Though Nehill is only credited with “words,” he’s obviously singing too; on sinister thumpers “Method and Make-Up” and “Snow Prayer,” he mimics Ian Curtis as if fronting New Order, while his raspy growl on the militaristic “There is a Diary” and ominous “Love in Any Color” recalls Lemmy Kilmister, and the burbly, ambient closer “Body Changes” hints of Colin Newman. The duo’s Bandcamp bio correctly summarizes their music as being “filled with repetition, unrest, and worry”; as such, Quiet Buildings feels like an ideal soundtrack for these uncertain, chaotic times.
Pieces: Bandcamp
Bill Nehill: Bandcamp
Ed Hallborg: Website | Bandcamp | Instagram
