Bands on the Rise: Nation of Language and The Wants at Empty Bottle, Chicago
National of Language, with The Wants opening, did a Sunday, October 3rd show at Chicago’s Empty Bottle. There is nothing like live music. (Live music is better; bumper stickers will be issued.) The Empty Bottle might not have the best sound system in Chicago – nowhere close to Lincoln Hall and Thalia Hall, and while the Metro’s high wattage system may bloody your ears at least you can distinguish the lyrics – not so much at the Empty Bottle. Words get garbled. Nevertheless, this old classic is special: a friendly unpretentious vibe with generally serious music goers, and you are within thirty feet from the stage! The band is right there, right in front of you, and five minutes after the show band members are in the front pool hall hawking t-shirts and albums. If you liked their show, which we did, you can tell them so, and get a nice thank you in return. An intimate venue, two really tight bands with a tight sound, a Sunday night in the fall – not much can beat that.
The sound for both National of Language and The Wants comes right out 80’s – 90’s dance music: new wave, punk and post-punk, techno pop, and from synth pop heading towards but just skirting guitar driven rock/pop. Fact is NOL doesn’t even have a guitarist in their main line up. Aiden Noell is on keyboards, Michael Sue-Poi appears exclusively on bass guitar, and Ian Richard Devaney is out front vocals lead, lending a hand here and there with percussion and, on one song, guitar. They brought in Madison Velding-VanDam, of The Wants for lead guitar on “Across That Fine Line” and he absolutely killed it.
Nation of Language at The Empty Bottle, 2021
You typically won’t find bands like either Nation of Language or The Wants through random Spotify playlists and certainly not on your typical rock radio station. (Music algorithms are designed to satisfy commonalities not to lead to new ground.) Someone has to recommend these bands to you – always the best way to learn about new music. We had been turned on to Nation of Language through some late 20 somethings we know, rooted in Boston and New York, NYC being the home base for both bands. “Indignities” and “The Wall and I” are their hits – if an up-and-coming band can actually have a song labeled a hit (hits mean you’ve arrived and NOL isn’t quite there); but these would be the first songs that cause you to say, hey what is the name of that band: both just super songs – pure, classic in their way, well-crafted and orchestrated. Indignities blasts off from a little bass twang towards a solid synth-led dance pop song. The foundation of “The Wall & I” is a melodic synth carpet with an overriding aspirational tilt akin to the sound sensibilities of say, “More Than This” by Roxy (with slightly different lyrical sensibilities).
Both songs were front and center in Nation of Language’s Empty Bottle set – “Indignities” rock solid in the center of the line-up with “The Wall & I” closing down the set. Anyone who came for these two songs got them, but the structure also, hopefully, allowed the crowd to enjoy what some believe are even better songs in a live set, songs like September Again (opening number), the afore-mentioned “Across That Fine Line,” and “I’ve Thought About Chicago,” to name a few. (Right on, Chicago!).
Fact is there is a lot you can do with the post-new wave genres in which NOL works, and top-notch songs take a top-notch band to make them realized, case in point NOL’s take on the Pixies “Gouge Away;” the pacing and structure was rooted to the Pixies’ take on the song but a few synth twists with a hallowed-out back end made it theirs. Lou Reed thought a three minute pop song to be a perfect narrative vehicle, and there is no real limit to what you can do musically as well – you could argue that new wave dance pop in the 2020’s might not be original but that would be wrong. A song is a product of the people and sensibilities upon which it is founded, and a genre is just a point of departure.
Nation of Language at The Empty Bottle, 2021
From the start it’s Devaney’s vocals which drive the band; he comes out loud, his voice expansive, umbrellaed over the music, very Morrisey-like. It’s when the band picks up the grove that things really kick in, and it’s Noell’s keyboards and Sue-Poi’s bass roaming throughout the set that really moves the crowd. That’s when things get started; fact is we were surprised there wasn’t more action in the crowd but we’ll put that on the fact it was a Sunday. But – important to note! – there were real fans there, people who knew the band and who’ve gone deep into its music. This is always tell-tale and a hint to future success, these folk the kindling that helps spread the fire of a band on the rise, and Nation of Language is certainly on the rise. Check them out.
While The Wants might be an opener, their path seems promising as well. Their presence on Spotify is limited, what looks like one album and a few singles since 2019 including “Fear My Society,” a very good listen to, and there is maybe a recent line-up change with the new addition of Yasmin Haddad on bass. In any case what we hear with The Wants is a sound loop with the band in a classic rock/pop set of drums, guitar and bass playing with, within, on top of and around the loop, with hints here and there of Television and other CBGB bands. In any case with the Wants what we hear is a song moving towards its inevitable conclusion but within the three or so minutes each performer works against each other and with each other, sometimes discordant and sometimes harmonious. The changes are subtle but they work. Madison Velding-VanDam on lead vocals and guitar and Jason Gates on drums are particularly strong, but it would not work without Haddad’s bass, beautiful, tight notes that bring everything together and that lets the other players work idiosyncratically within context.
The wonderful thing, of course, about listening to live music is the opportunity a live set gives a band to expand on the themes of any given song between the tight structures of a typical three minute pop song. Some bands embrace the opportunity while others flee from the challenge. Not naming names but we heard a recently very popular act that simply would not permit her band to take the lead and push the music to its logical conclusions. Nation of Language and The Wants were both having fun in their sets, showcasing their talents, attitudes and sensibilities, and that makes for a fantastic show. Well done all. We’re fans. Keep it up.
Set List
