Flickering in ultraviolet, there is an elusive place where blue pill meets red, ups become downs, and day merges with night. Those liminal spaces where anything is possible is where you’ll find Nightbus and their hypnotic debut album Passenger. Doom, uncertainty, and opportunity lurk in the shadowy corners of their murky existence with stops at disassociation, co-dependency, and addiction before reaching its final destination - a glimmer of hope.
“We’re travellers in our own bodies; there’s an alter ego nurturing our secrets, fantasies, shame and fears, lost in the underworld of humanity. A dreamscape of tabu existence, things that define us but wouldn’t come up in casual conversations. This album is that traveller, the passenger,” Olive Rees reveals, who, alongside partner in crime Jake Cottier, is Nightbus. “This self-destructive side can be triggered at any moment, and you’ll experience life in a completely different light. It’s not about hiding that side, but if it were gone, what journey would it experience?”
'Passenger' is a late night ride into our inner selves, all the secrets, fantasies, shame and fears that don't normally surface. Nodding to The Knife, XX, Portishead, Chromatics, early Cure, Burial, Massive Attack, Everything But The Girl, it's an after-hours adventure into post-punk, trip-hop and otherworldly electronica.
Between shows from Porto to Brighton taking in Great Escape; DJing; remixing; guesting; and hosting queer hyperpop club nights, heads are now being turned from sports brands to high-end fashion designers – all soon-to-be-announced. “We can’t reveal much right now,” tells Olive, “but we’re excited about the direction this beast we’ve created is heading.” As the album philosophises and asks one ultimate question; what does it truly mean to be Passenger? Nightbus may not claim to offer a definitive answer, but it might make you feel a bit better about those demons.
A1. Somewhere, Nowhere
A2. Angles Mortz
A3. False Prophet
A4. Fluoride Stare
A5. The Void
A6. Ascension
B1. Just a Kid
B2. Host
B3. Landslide
B4. Renaissance
B5. 7am
