Snake Sideways is an album of juxtapostion; an album of contentment, yet also dissatisfaction; of straight forward, conventionally written music, yet also free from the boundaries of structure at points. The album by Nottingham band, Do Nothing, deals with issues of work, resentment and the daily mundanity of day to day life, as the title suggests a position of lateral movements, yet somewhere within this jaded outlook on life there is hope within the smaller details. The album is broken and wonky, yet also catchy and bizarrely danceable.
Many of the riffs, guitar lines and melodies on Snake Sideways tend to follow a fairly punctual progression, ones that don't stick out too much outside of their respective keys, but then, as if hitting the guitar out of annoyance, one, or maybe a few, off-putting notes are thrown in just to change the flow and feel of a track. This motif is recurring throughout all of Snake Sideways and it's one that can throw you off at times, but also creates this seamless blend between the wonky, distorted sounds of new wave bands and the conventional indie or pop driven songs. Conventional in the case of Do Nothing, however, is not an insult, as combined with the weirder sounds on the album, the song-writing itself is extremely clever and consistent; the hooks on this album are just perfectly crafted and I challenge anyone listening to songs like Nerve to get the choruses out of your head, as the acoustic guitar comes crashing in and the soaring vocals come in with a refrain that is probably the most infectious of the year:
"What did you just call me? / Where'd you get the nerve?" Nerve
There is recurring theme on this album of work, the dreariness that is present in lots of the songs represents this perfectly, with an occasional, seemingly angry, outburst of high pitch, screaming vocals that contrast the more spoken word sections perfectly, at the distaste of having to avoid their passion for being a creative, and then the mundane returns, seemingly from their lunch break, to the conformity of their job that has to get them through their day to day life after being pushed down for their moment of rebellion by their bosses:
"That man can go fuck himself / I'm going on my break right now / I don't care what he says...
A yellow strip light, gonna smile on down / Saying 'let them have a fourty share / Hallelujah, allez Argos." The Needle
Throughout this album, I often found that the pre choruses can be just as catchy as the actual chorus, as is true here with The Needle, the acoustic guitar slowly comes in to accompany the disdain shown in these lyrics, into the satirised, witty one liner "Hallelujah, allez Argos", as the backing, slightly distorted, rhythm guitars slowly come in to finish the cascade of the chorus. This album gives the impression that it has been entirely written on a way to work, or in the little free time that they have left to be creative outside of their jobs on their two year hiatus since their last EP, Glueland:
"We worked for a long time / Now we are coming home with our dicks in our hands / You're just staring at the air above me / Like somethings coming in to land" Moving Target
It is impossible to stop talking about the songwriting on this album, as they perfectly blend tension and release into moments that are just so visceral and personal, like my personal favourite song Fine, starting out with its pitched down, sleepy vocals and electronic drum pattern and as the overdriven bass starts to creep its way in, you can feel the song slowly and slowly build, with each section complimenting the next until the vocals switch into the upper register as he shouts, over beautifully melodic guitar notes:
"Beat yourself up for a while! / Then it's time to move on / The free drinks say it all" Fine
And with no hesitation, a new, groovier bass line kicks straight in, switching the electronic bass and drums for live ones and the crooked guitar riff picks up the energy, only for it to be stripped back to the previous section, but in this case keeping these live instruments, building up the tension to release it once again. This song is a vicious cycle of lively and pretty instrumentation interwoven into each other at a moments notice and never stops being interesting to listen to.
The tracks written with more energy for the clubs the band will be playing them to, however, don't overshadow the more melodic and slow songs like Ivy, Hollywood Learn and Moving Target. My only gripe with the album is that it doesn't end here, with Moving Target, while Sunshine State is a solid song with some great riffs interwoven, it seems slightly shoehorned into the tracklist and forces the album to end on a song that overstays its welcome, as, in my opinion, the most uninteresting song on the album. These collection of slower songs, however, are filled with witty one liners, very pretty chords, mainly on either a piano or keyboard as opposed to the guitar-heavy songs that fill the majority of the album. While the building of these songs is more linear, this does not take away from the incredible songwriting that is apparent on all of these songs. These three tracks are beautiful in the sense that they are broken; there is a discord in the sounds and chords that are used and a jadedness in the lyrics, a feeling of finally lying down as there is nothing else to do, yet somehow they push forward. They build and build and towards the end there is a release of the band coming together in an understated way, but one that is still powerful.
"I remember drinking with my friends / I remember nearly drowning in the bath / Some people dress up and go and find the future / Others just drool over the past" Moving Target
RATING: 9.5/10
FAVOURITE SONGS: Fine, Amoeba, Hollywood Learn, Nerve, The Needle.
LEAST FAVOURITE SONG: Sunshine State.
"I'll tie a cable / Around my feet / So that I don't have to dance with you tonight / …
I stay at home and watch a movie / Then accidentally die / Licking butter off a knife"
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