No Age have returned with “Feeler”, their latest off of “Goons be Gone” set for release early this summer. The song is nostalgic, not just in its sound – the thematic end to the choruses reminds of The Modern Lovers- but also in the montage of home-movie-type footage that comprises the video.
Of the video, director Kersti Jan Werdal says: “Animals are continually referenced, because I can’t forget the untethered and wild way it was to be a teenager.” Particularly accurate are the shots of Bambi clumsily navigating the winter landscape and trained horses prancing around in some sort of show they definitely did not sign up for, and a wolf uncertain about what to do with a deer in the distance. Teenagers are wild and clumsy; they haven’t quite gotten a tight enough hold on that wild nature to keep it in check like they’re supposed to. The type of music No Age make is an appropriate soundtrack to that.
The ability to create a full sound with simplicity is something to be envious of, and it’s something that No Age do very well. The stand-out in “Feeler” is the tremolo guitar, perfectly doubled and offset so that it is a bit disorienting (in the best of ways). There’s an aggression behind the grainy drive of that old Silvertone amp they’re using that the pop sensibility of the song tames, reflective of that confused balance the young people of the video are constantly trying to achieve.
“Goons Be Gone” is available June 5, 2020 on Drag City Records.
