The new album from The David Nance Group, Peaced And Slightly Pulverized, out Friday on the fine Trouble in Mind label, is a strange beast. Equal parts acid rock nostalgia trip and post-rock exploration, it's a formidable release.
Some of the shorter numbers here, like the greasy "Poison", suggest a neat blend of early Royal Trux and Stones-obsessed Primal Scream, while others, like the epic "Amethyst", hint at a seamless melding of the sort of guitar-rock Neil Young favored with Crazy Horse with the mindset of formative Sonic Youth work-outs. The music is, if not accessible, at least brave, the kind of thing that takes skill to pull off. Thankfully, David Nance and his crew can make credible stabs here at this brand of stuff, a number like "In Her Kingdom" roaring past with the fervor that one can find in earlier Bad Seeds selections. If Nance is not quite Nick Cave, he's at least wholly committed to this approach. And if I can't quite love the entirety of Peaced And Slightly Pulverized, I can at least admire its brute force, and the bravado with which the David Nance Group even attempts this sonic attack.
Peaced And Slightly Pulverized is out on Friday via Trouble in Mind Records.
[Photo: Anna Dewey Nance]