Reflecting upon their new album Different Bridges, Nutrients discovered a time capsule from the dullest days of the pandemic. The 10 hopeful songs manage to sonically sound as optimistic as their lyrics. Unbeknownst to the band, they were composing an ode to the way life had once been. Lyrically, Teeple subconsciously penned love letters to everything he had taken for granted: parties, air travel, even just meeting new people. The band’s sun-drenched guitars continue to jingle and jangle on Different Bridges, yet this time around, other ingredients are in the spotlight. Sean McKee’s basslines ecstatically bounce around on the album’s title track opener, while Iulia Ciobanu’s ghostly harmonies and tense keys soar on the jazzy, lounge pop bop Nauseous. Ben Fukuzawa’s steady cadence and vivacious fills animate tracks like the spritely closer, Kool Kat ‘22. Saxophone by guest Emily Steinwall shimmers alongside the buoyant congas, bongos, and triangle added by percussionist Juan Carlos Medrano. Still, guitar work on songs like the wordplay-adorned I and the nostalgic House Fire Painting sturdily underpin Taylor Teeple and Will Hunter’s smooth songwriting. Compositionally, the band has freshened up forgotten cliches from ‘70s soft rock and ‘80s new wave and incorporated them into a signature sound listeners first discovered on their self-titled debut. Some of the more oblique noodling may bring to mind bands like Steely Dan, while certain funk-lite grooves evoke British pop groups like Orange Juice or Haircut 100. Contemporarily, Different Bridges would likely find fans in listeners of fellow Canadians TOPS, Video Age, or even Drugdealer. That optimism was perhaps a bit….well optimistic, the band now recognizes. But they still believe that keeping a positive mindset is key to creating music you can be proud of, and living a fulfilling life in general.
