Nu Vision is the latest project of Duke Cooper, band leader and label boss of Nation, Kode and DirtyBlends. There are three humans who make up Nu Vision, and they all have their own stories and discographies, records released on labels you might know, gigs played in Chicago or Berlin or someone’s loft, lives lived, friends made, sleep lost - fighting for theirart, standing by truths, defending voices, honoring progenitors, whilst pushing a new paradigm. Time is both fleeting and heavy for us all, but it is not without receipts.
Nu Vision is a band in the classic do-you-believe-in-alchemy sense - equal parts rhythm, damage, and deep feeling. Drenched in nostalgia and futurism, The Seed is a singularity of sound + vision; as if heavily rotated by VJ Dave Kendall on MTV’s 120 Minutes but materialized via today’s technology.
From track one (“Time”) lessons have been learned: 'This time, it’s out of our hands, and we’re out of our minds, next time is not guaranteed.' "Time" seizes fleeting blips, racing past on aged roads of experience. Rotating synth mechanics pulsate the downswing of life, metallic bass lines thrust upwards, commanded by Robert Lane’s baritone voice, ordering action before it’s all gone in the heat of the moment. It sounds like Depeche Mode scoring a Michael Mann montage: brooding, motorik, and shot through with black-and-blue beauty. Somewhere in the back of your mind, steam leaks from a Chicago manhole cover.
The palette is defined, but the gears shift. Greece’s Trenton Chase voices "Shadow in the Dark"; a sultry, macabre, vampirical electrodanse with their victims, channelling Absolute Body Control, Bauhaus, and Bootsy Collins. The Dark Knight’s Joker-in-residence, Duke Cooper, plunges into maniacal delirium on "R U SERIOUS?!?", echoing Rob Gretton on New Order’s 1980 demo at Cabaret Voltaire’s Western Works studio. However, the laughter screeches to a halt on the sobering "Synchronicity", cloaked in the style and tone of a fallen compatriot, Silent Servant.
Celestial bodies collide on "Stars" on the flipside, featuring Jonathan D. Valdez on vocals, spaghetti western-style pseudo- steel guitars via Jason Letkiewicz, and programming and refrain vocals again by Duke. Frenetic energy of capitalism
Corroding art embodies "Humanity", with Robert vocalizing the Daniel Plainview of record execs in a time long gone by, who suddenly pivots to #beachgoth party starter in "Somedays", a broken-hearted dance anthem. The album quietly lands on the seven-minute, eyeliner-smearing closing ballad "Lullaby Garden", an intimate tale of forbidden love and lust.
"The Seed" pulses forward as the body of the beast is turned inside out, wearing a beating heart on its sleeve, honouring those who left us too soon - DAF’s Gabi Delgado, Nitzer Ebb’s Douglas McCarthy, Depeche Mode’s Andrew Fletcher, and Sandwell District’s Juan Mendez. These are proper songs made with vintage machines, and while the sound carries obvious influences, it exudes a sentimentality, earnestness, and willingness to stretch out that is far from the cold confines of the 7-inch era.
Nu Vision is a band in the classic do-you-believe-in-alchemy sense - equal parts rhythm, damage, and deep feeling. Drenched in nostalgia and futurism, The Seed is a singularity of sound + vision; as if heavily rotated by VJ Dave Kendall on MTV’s 120 Minutes but materialized via today’s technology.
From track one (“Time”) lessons have been learned: 'This time, it’s out of our hands, and we’re out of our minds, next time is not guaranteed.' "Time" seizes fleeting blips, racing past on aged roads of experience. Rotating synth mechanics pulsate the downswing of life, metallic bass lines thrust upwards, commanded by Robert Lane’s baritone voice, ordering action before it’s all gone in the heat of the moment. It sounds like Depeche Mode scoring a Michael Mann montage: brooding, motorik, and shot through with black-and-blue beauty. Somewhere in the back of your mind, steam leaks from a Chicago manhole cover.
The palette is defined, but the gears shift. Greece’s Trenton Chase voices "Shadow in the Dark"; a sultry, macabre, vampirical electrodanse with their victims, channelling Absolute Body Control, Bauhaus, and Bootsy Collins. The Dark Knight’s Joker-in-residence, Duke Cooper, plunges into maniacal delirium on "R U SERIOUS?!?", echoing Rob Gretton on New Order’s 1980 demo at Cabaret Voltaire’s Western Works studio. However, the laughter screeches to a halt on the sobering "Synchronicity", cloaked in the style and tone of a fallen compatriot, Silent Servant.
Celestial bodies collide on "Stars" on the flipside, featuring Jonathan D. Valdez on vocals, spaghetti western-style pseudo- steel guitars via Jason Letkiewicz, and programming and refrain vocals again by Duke. Frenetic energy of capitalism
Corroding art embodies "Humanity", with Robert vocalizing the Daniel Plainview of record execs in a time long gone by, who suddenly pivots to #beachgoth party starter in "Somedays", a broken-hearted dance anthem. The album quietly lands on the seven-minute, eyeliner-smearing closing ballad "Lullaby Garden", an intimate tale of forbidden love and lust.
"The Seed" pulses forward as the body of the beast is turned inside out, wearing a beating heart on its sleeve, honouring those who left us too soon - DAF’s Gabi Delgado, Nitzer Ebb’s Douglas McCarthy, Depeche Mode’s Andrew Fletcher, and Sandwell District’s Juan Mendez. These are proper songs made with vintage machines, and while the sound carries obvious influences, it exudes a sentimentality, earnestness, and willingness to stretch out that is far from the cold confines of the 7-inch era.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Crackling industrial post-punk with stabbing synths and echoic vocals riding atop, bridging the gap between post-punk and dancefloor electronics with a funky percussive streak and intermittent bursts of bright saw waves.TRACK LISTING
time
shadow in the dark
r u serious
synchronicity
stars
humanity
somedays
lullaby garden
