Love of Diagrams -Nowhere Forever

Mon 17th Aug, 2009 in Music Reviews

Love of Diagrams have a reputation for plundering the history vaults to find their sound, however the reality is they could no more chose their musical style than their eye colour. The essence of their output seems so innate, so intuitive it’s hard to believe that over the years their DNA hasn’t undergone some kind of re-engineering. Or that if you looked closely enough you’d find Kevin Shields imprinted in the whorls on Luke Horton’s fingertips or Kim Gordon in residence deep in the cartilage of Antonia Sellbach’s knuckles.

The notion that the band’s influences are part and parcel of their physiological make-up is what determines Nowhere Forever’s fate. Whilst it has the potential to be a derivative dog’s breakfast, Love of Diagrams have such an affinity with their passions, that a whole host of reference points are brought to life on the album, without the sense that the Melbournians are trying to pass off other artist’s material as their own.

The ability to evoke familiar sounds on a fresh canvas is nothing new for the band. 2003’s debut album, The Target is You, was defined by a largely instrumental palate, that took the spirit of American post-punk circa 1980 and forced it to dance to the rhythm of Monika Fikerle’s super smart percussion. Four years elapsed before the trio released Mosaic, an album that continued to fly the flag for dissonance but made harmonious concessions with splashes of melody and the addition of Sellbach’s dead-pan but engaging voice.

The point from which Nowhere Forever would germinate was Mosaic’s, Ms. V Export. Despite Horton trying to veil its prettiness in swathes of bristling guitar, the chords merely melted when confronted with Sellbach’s slow-burn vocal. Taking the baton from Ms. V Export in 2009 is the My Bloody Valentine inspired, Forever. Horton’s guitar progressions may be simple, but with the layering of each note he creates an army-sized sound that bolts out of the traps like a cat with its tail on fire. Submerged beneath this frenetic activity is Sellbach’s lazy melody; seemingly spacey and disconnected yet somehow always managing to keep tabs on the wayward guitar.

Some may be quick to slap the – œshoegazer’ tag onto Nowhere Forever, but it really isn’t applicable. Granted, the guitars are suitably distorted and stacked higher than England’s odds of winning The Ashes, but the classic shoegazer bands, such as Ride and Slowdive, were marked by a much more ponderous, soporific sound than Love of Diagrams have produced. It would take a genre rewrite to include the bushy-tailed rock-pop fizz of Static Information or the sassy On the Breeze with its molten bass line and Sellbach’s fine homage to the Deal sisters.

Although the album is seasoned with a generous dose of the sweet stuff, its accessibility doesn’t come at the cost of inventiveness. For every Static Information there’s a Mountain: a six minute opus that slips back and forth between the finely honed balance of drums, bass and guitar through to long passageways built from Sonic Youth’s glittering harmonics.

Despite all this goodness, Nowhere Forever does slightly outstay its welcome and a bit of tough love on the editing front wouldn’t have gone amiss. But it’s a really minor quibble. Given the great material here, even if you had a year to decide which bits to leave on the cutting room floor you’d still be scratching your head by day 365.

Album out now through Remote Control Records.