Album Review

By Bobby Herron

Nixie

nixie.com

Originally from Kelowna, Nixie now resides in Vancouver, BC. They are four women whose fearless sense of adventure in the world of indie rock has brought them to a place where they can make a record that people want to talk about. I can listen to this album from start to finish several times and still keep it close at hand for future pleasures.

Nixie has several winning components. They’re not afraid to invent their own musical approach to a scene that seems dominated by young-men-with-clever- lyrics. They don’t mind telling you things without sugar coating. They have an expressive, stylistically strong vocalist. The drummer is solid and instinctively locked into the pocket. And there are synthesizers.

Nixie’s debut album is energetic, dark in places, adeptly performed and arranged and full of all kinds of colorful synth sounds. These women have put a lot of work (and fun) into their music and the result is fresh, infectious, edgy and surprisingly punchy considering the lack of electric guitars. For a refreshing change, they’ve added some instrumentals because – well maybe not every song requires the written word to deliver its essence.

To shine in the indie musical realm these days is considerably less common than in those halcyon days when a few bands forged their brands. The myths of the record making process have been dispelled. This is a good time for bands like Nixie to emerge.