J&L Defer – “Nowhere”

J&L Defer – “Nowhere”

J&L Defer have put the finishing touches on No Map in their native Switzerland after killing a bunch of festivals in the US, including our unofficial SXSW bash. We’ve already posted the lead single “Hard Fiction Road,” and today they followup with “Nowhere.” You probably noticed the meandering motif, and that characterizes their sound in a good way.

“Nowhere” is wanderlust at it’s finest. Sustained, warped distortion, intricate percussion, and stunted phrasing give the sense of a guided tour to no place in particular. Then that simple but infectious repeated refrain of “No one, nowhere” comes in to evoke the elusive feeling of pleasure derived from being adrift on purpose. The song truly does go nowhere. There’s no huge crescendo, no build, no rise, no fall. But it’s almost hypnotic in its lack of structure, pooling together such inventive sounds for a fixating immersion. Listen.

No Map is out 9/2 on Exploding in Sound/Defer. Pre-order it here.

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