Instead of a lick, beat, or lyric, the Atlanta-based Nomen Novum open their EP Go Primal with an extended sample of a conversation between two young men and a somewhat loopy-sounding grandma selling trinkets and baubles at the side of the road. Real life ‘found sound’ samples can be a somewhat tiresome exercise if done improperly, especially if they overtake the song (or displace it altogether): ‘adolescent girl from weirdo atomic age moral hygiene instructional film confessing her aberrant desires against a wall of feedback’ was practically its own subgenre in the mid-90s. But when you hit the nail on the head, the most mundane samples can achieve a glowing, transcendent appeal, which lifts a song from the realm of the ordinary into the extraordinary. Nomen Novum show how ‘found sound’ samples are done right; the band whips up not just a fine collection of indie rock songs, but a stage on which they can be performed, a whole universe for them to inhabit, in the croaking frogs, hot Fourth of Julys, and drunken karaoke nights of their native South.
After the initial opening sample, the title track "Go Primal" eases the album into more conventional compositional structures. A sweet guitar lick floats over the top, a bass begins to stir, percussion picks up a regular beat, a voice sings "We are the ones that our parents warned us about", and before you know it, you’re knee deep in the refrain and the song is in full swing. The compositions of Nomen Novum have a habit of sneaking up on (and stealing away from) the listener. Like a junky pickup truck coming around a slow curve, "Go Primal" builds up speed before turning the corner and trundling back into nothing. "White Trash" repeats the same strategy with a sample of a flowing river instead of a loony grandma. When the electro-drum machine kicks in with the robotic beat as Nomen Novum chants a dancehall anthem over the top, you realize that this band occupies a very odd place on the musical spectrum. A little lo-fi, a little found sound, a little dirty south, and a whole lot of experimental. "White Trash", which is probably the closest thing they have to a traditional single, takes a full minute to warm up into your conventional song and then takes a full minute-and-a-half to wind down through a noise rock haze. That’s a lot of intro/outro for a four-minute song. Not exactly your cookie-cutter iTunes single.
If you’re a music reviewer that is accustomed to decrying bands as ‘self indulgent’ for appending fifteen seconds of feedback to a song, then the excesses of Go Primal will probably push you over the edge. Or maybe not. There aren’t any real rules in music except one: make it good. If it’s good, you can get away with just about anything. On the track "It’s In The Air", Nomen Novum pieces together a musical collage that manages to coalesce without the traditional percussive glue. A guitar strum, a background choir, and a live recording of a few kids shooting off bottle rockets mesh into a mantric elegy of superlative beauty. The crisp crackle of a lit fuse has never sounded so sublime. It’s amazing that real songs can be conjured up out of such haphazard elements. The pair behind Nomen Novum, David Norbery and Mark Godfrey, have a great ear for coaxing consonance and harmony out of the dissonant and disparate – although trying to transmogrify a live recording of a drunken karaoke session into the song "Torn Karaoke" is probably wasted effort.
Go Primal is a perfect example of music that is experimental without veering into eye-rolling territory. The adventurous edge of their ‘found sound’ shenanigans provides an intrigue that is all the more interesting for not always hitting the mark. Nomen Novum have found a really refreshing style that can wander in and out of traditional pop structures and southern narratives without warning. You may not know what you’re hearing, but you’ll like what you heard.
MP3 Stream: "It’s In the Air"
