Nadja
When I See the Sun Always Shines on TV

THE REVIEW

Nadja are the Albano and Romina Power of the drone doom metal scene.

They are a Canadian duo active since 2002, initially a solo project by Canadian musician Aidan Baker. In 2005, Leah Buckareff joined as a permanent collaborator, to enable the band to perform live, assisting with bass and vocals. As the wiki page says, but I also say that her presence adds a touch of pink to Aidan's creations, giving sonic malleability to Aidan's dark creations, in addition to the inclusion of love among the strong themes already discussed in the past (death). The project is among the most active of the decade. About 40 releases (!) with varying quality of ideas from '02 to today for 9 labels.

They are perpetually on a world tour, with lysergic and economical performances. In Genoa, I paid only €5 to see them + Thisquitarmy + a drone project by Vanessa Van Basten, whose name I can't recall, and during the performance of the duo many of us ended up lying comfortably on the floor, staring at the ceiling with arms behind our heads, sharing an estranged and ecstatic smile. Our minds were elsewhere, but our heads rested on the neighbor's body. A Woodstock-like experience of current times. But their strength is concentrated on their sound, unique and innovative, recognizable even if heard by mistake for a second, their true identity.

Here with the catchy phrase "When I See the Sun Always Shines in Tv", they offer a collection of covers, reimaginations in a drone doom style of songs of completely different genres. The title is nothing more than a reference to A-ha's piece. A detachment to observe the sun that always shines on TV, but without managing to feel it and savoring its very different reality. But it's by opening with the cover of "Only Shallow" by My Bloody Valentine that it becomes clear this is an album of heartfelt tributes, because their sound, although original, recognizes as a very distant source the shoegaze sound of the Anglo-Irish phenomenon. Sound that transforms into drone doom when it marries the slowcore slowness of Codeine (paid homage with "Pea" here) and the brilliance of The Cure ("Faith"). A track representative of the high metal school ("Dead Skin Mask" by Slayer) and the rest is fun and melancholy.

I hope the names of the "affected" artists listed one after the other might encourage you to listen more than my rants about the beautiful sound:

1. "Only Shallow (My Bloody Valentine)"
2. "Pea (Codeine)"
3. "No Cure For The Lonely (Swans)"
4. "Dead Skin Mask (Slayer)"
5. "The Sun Always Shines On TV (A-ha)"
6. "Needle In The Hay (Elliott Smith)"
7. "Long Dark Twenties (Kids In The Hall)"
8. "Faith (The Cure)"

This might be the gateway to the infinite discography for those who are distant from the genre.

Rating 4/5, which is the maximum a cover album can aspire to.