Tancred (aka Jess Abbot) and Richard Edwards (fka Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s) have been releasing some of my most favorite music for the last half-decade. Abbot helped craft Now, Now’s Threads back in 2012, while Edwards fronted my favorite band dating back to 2006. Now, they’re both officially solo artists releasing new albums on the same damn day. June 1, 2018 is going to one hell of a day.
Nightstand will be Tancred’s fourth full-length album that was kicked off with “Reviews” as a lead single. Abbot’s vocals on this album have a refined tune to it whereas her previous release sounded rawer. She continues to master writing catchy lyrics over swirling guitars littered with effect pedals. She told NPR that this song “felt like the right first single because it holds some of that same propulsion the last album had, but also opens a secret door into a more introspective vibe” that her new album has.
“Minefield” continues Richard Edwards’s ability to turn a phrase. The hook is melodic as Edwards sings “There you are caught in a minefield, minefield / one false move gurl and you’re mine.” That’s his spelling, by the way. His sound has softened in recent years after Margot released some louder songs he referred to as panic pop. Verdugo continues that trend. While announcing the album, he wrote on his Facebook, “There’s still some divorce in the air on this one [like on Lemon Cotton Candy Sunset]. But something else is creeping in now. Maybe it’s glimpses of the Los Angeles lost weekend that saved my skin. These albums are siblings, but they’re very different kind of sisters.”
ADAM VITCAVAGE 