Spectreview: Black Nite Crush – Conflict of Disinterest
Released: March 22, 2019
Rock
Shoegaze
Alternative
-RED-
How do you revitalize classic rock? Countless bands have formed to take stabs at a style that’s long been buried, if only for the purpose of communally rocking out, a instinctual pleasure that likely won’t ever get old. Black Nite Crush have that sound locked down on their latest album, an extended exercise in familiar rock tropes with a shoegaze edge that recalls The Men circa Open Your Heart. The production is what current rock production should be: a little rough around the edges, without pushing any specific element above anything else. And BNC’s songwriting, while not especially fresh (again, really hard to do with this style of music), contains some decent surprises: the punching “This Is Mine” makes a great impression, while the whammylicious, southern-tinged “Heart Of Stone” is an ideal single, surging with heat and momentum. A lot of the record slides right by, and that’s largely to do with the band’s insistence on mid-tempo numbers, specifically in the middle of the record. There’s a fine line between focus and staidness, and tracks like “All The Times I Never Slept” and “Bridges Back,” while enjoyable in their own right, lend an air of sameness that makes each track blur together. Barring some instrumental distractions, like the close-mic’d off-beat shakers in the album’s otherwise epic closer, “Bring It Down,” Conflict of Disinterest is a solid effort from a band that has places yet to take an ultra-familiar sound.
Recommended for people thinking about buying a motorcycle.
Lives in Seattle, terrible diet, loves music, has hope for people