In further Nashville news, Nest fly off the branch and plunge into the watery depths on their Hadal EP. Set for release tomorrow, January 14 from Broken Circles, Kyle Merriman and Evan Davis pour vocals, guitars and passion into an oceanic mix retained by Peter Wanca and Caleb Gregory's rhythm section. Together they build a bond of power from the post core and gears grounded into guitar chord mathematics that also give you their acoustic side mirrors with a closing tribute to, um, Drake. So secure your headphones, receivers, audio players and scuba diving gear, as we venture down into Hadal's abyss of alternative architecture brought from the Southern schools of rock synergy.
Opener “Father Adder” sends an army of sea snakes down into the guitar glistened dark glow of the ocean's bottomless deep end. The fins, scales and sails are Kyle and Evan's guitars with Caleb and Peter's rudder and motrik wooden water paddles as they wade through the oil slicked viscosity of “A Moving Swamp”. The particulars of disconnection get swept into the undertow of high tide swells on “Stairs-Stares” that sounds off on sending frustrations out to the sea's gaze of contemplative thought. On the less than one minute interlude of “Lamia (Lakeside)”, Nest brings in seabound Greek mythology to their waterside party before concluding the EP's first portion with the state of stuck, bound and down send off “Hands in a Hole”.
This leaves us in the melody meadow of lullabies on the acoustic renderings of “Father Adder”, to the pensive and pastoral new intimacies uncovered on “Stairs-Stares”. But in the key of taking care, and keeping us in the whirlpool grip of Hadal's tidal edges; we are left with a cover of Drake's “Hold On” to further exhibit the gentle and sensitive side of Nest. All together, the Hadal cycle sews the collected materials of acoustic and electric stringed songs to create a sense of home as much as they embody the iciest, and coldest degrees from well over 10,000 leagues of the sea's unforgiving depth.
Kyle Merriman of Nest talks everything from Nashville favorites, makes a little mixtape for us, discusses the band's deep-sea creature and motif fixations, song development, covering Drake, and more.
From your self-described, 'glacial atmospheric rock', and your EP titled Hadal, alluding to the deep depths and sea dimensions; what is all of your attraction to sea, and sea form elements?
It's just very interesting to us. Not to say that all of the inspiration for this record came from that, it's just something we happened to be into while writing. The Hadal Zone is one of the deepest layers of the ocean with zero natural light, but is still home to a large amount of sea creatures. It felt natural to write a record based around this theme.
How do these elements of ice and water inform and inspire your sound and moods?
Evan and I both take a very synesthetic approach when describing and writing music, so when we were creating these songs we knew that we wanted them to be deep and swelling. We became really interested in deep-sea creatures around the same time the writing process began so inspiration came naturally from that aesthetic.
As part of the fabric of Nashville's Music City, what is all of your connection to Nashville?
Nest: The three of us were born in and have grown up in the city. Naturally the city has made us who we are, and developed what we're attracted to in a lot of ways.
Thoughts on Nashville's indie scene, and the developments, and breakthrough acts that you all have enjoyed?
The Nashville scene is huge right now. Many of us have been playing together for about eight years now, in different bands. Its great to be able to watch close friends grow and mature in their writing and musical ability.
One of the guys we played with when we started our first endeavor, has his own band now called Better Off on 6131 Records. It’s great to have been able to grow up alongside him, see him progress into the musician he is now writing such great music.
I'm always amazed when so much diverse sounds can spring from a region, and seems like you all have something special out there. What other local acts have you all been digging lately?
There are so many bands in Nashville that we play with that deserve recognition. Here are a few that we’re in to:
Better Off
Cove
Yautja
Gnarwal
Diarrhea Planet
Daisyhead
Courtesy Drop
What brought about providing both electric and acoustic versions of your songs on the EP, and what brought you to close it out with a Drake tribute with, “Hold On”?
Although the album is coming out on January 14, we've been playing these songs for a while now. We felt we needed to add another side to the record that was a bit stripped down and more focused. As for the Drake cover, we just thought it would be fun. We've done a few r & b covers before at shows but never got around to recording one.
What's next for Nest?
Tour, tour, tour. Definitely writing too. We’re always working on new material and adding elements to our live show so that the set will be ever changing. With the release of this record, we will hopefully move further forward in 2014.
Nest's Hadal EP will be available January 14 from Broken Circles Records.
