Something happened on No. The early EPs from Baltimore’s Tomato Flower were pretty, dreamy psychedelia. Warm to the touch, like looking up at the trees on a cloudless day. On No, the four-piece’s debut album, those trees, that cloudless sky, have become haunted, thorny, stormy. It takes Tomato Flower from buttoned-up, almost technically formalist psych pop to something more urgent, raw, emotionally immediate. No is messier, more expansive, and through all of its chaos, the band’s most rigorous artistic statement to date. No is the band’s first effort made entirely in person, the first thing tracked in a studio instead of in a bedroom. It is a highly collaborative record written and recorded by everyone, partially made live. It is very much the byproduct of a band that has done some serious touring, following a coast-to-coast tour with Animal Collective in the summer of 2022. Lead single “Destroyer,” has Jamison Murphy practically screaming over angular guitars, oscillating in a sonic space somewhere between the prettiness of Broadcast and the sludge of Jesus Lizard. It also presents an early entry point to one of No’s major conceptual underpinnings: that of the breakup between Murphy and fellow co-lead vocalist and guitarist Austyn Wohlers, which occurred during the composition of the album. It wouldn’t be fair to just call No a break up album. It’s far more complicated with that. No is a record about negation: I will not do this, you cannot tell me what to do, we are not living in a utopia, don’t be delusional. No embraces a kind of brutal realism, a confrontation of life that only happens when you wizen up a little bit. All of it is a brutal delight, a departure from the past, a nod to a startling present. 1. Saint 2. Destroyer 3. Radical 4. Do It 5. No 6. Sally & Me 7. Harlequin 8. Lost Lunar One 9. Temple of the Mind 10. Magdalene 11. Spoon Jade 12. Jem
Release date:
March 8, 2024
Label:
Install our app to receive notifications when new upcoming releases are added.
Recommended equipment and accessories
Featured Upcoming Vinyl
-
The Mountain Goats The Coroner's Gambit
Merge Records
June 28, 2024 -
Quivers Oyster Cuts
Merge Records
August 9, 2024 -
Party Cannon Injuries Are Inevitable
Unique Leader Orch
June 7, 2024 -
Hot Wheels Sun Blonde
Earth Libraries
June 7, 2024 -
Ancient Settlers Oblivion's Legacy
Scarlet Records
May 31, 2024 -
Curse All Kings Feral Earth
Cyclic Law
June 7, 2024 -
Keaton Henson Somnambulant Cycles
Verve Label Group
July 26, 2024 -
Swamp Dogg Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St
Oh Boy Records
May 31, 2024 -
Evildead Toxic Grace
Steamhammer
May 24, 2024 -
Zsela Big For You
Mexican Summer
June 14, 2024 -
Zeal & Ardor GREIF
Redacted GmbH
August 23, 2024 -
Julius Rodriguez Evergreen
Verve Label Group
June 14, 2024 -
Basile3 43C
Infine
May 31, 2024 -
Rarity Lower Feeling (Transparent Orange)
New Damage Records
June 7, 2024