Album Review: Now, Now Every Children - Neighbors

Every once in a while you hear a record which is not only a collection of great songs, but one which pulls them together as a piece of art. As Now, Now Every Children’s EP ‘Neighbors’ ethereally flows through its six tracks, it defines itself as a collection of experiences to be taken in one breath by the listener. It’s an astonishingly good EP.

The mood set by ‘Neighbors’ varies from the optimistic to hauntingly negative, as NNEC combine and flutter between distorted guitars, ambient keys and beautifully crafted melodies. These are led by Cacie Dalager’s angelic voice, which blends the quirky qualities of Eisley with Hayley Williams at her most restrained, often adding an element of hope to the solemn aspects of NNEC’s music.

After the beautifully sparse instrumental track 'Rebuild' introduces the EP, NNEC reveal their harder side with 'Giants', but the crunch of guitars which crashes into ‘Giants’ (and continually kicks ‘Neighbors’ into shape) is then beautifully contrasted by Cacie’s dulcet vocals and the bands almost illusory use of keyboards. Both of these casually float over the hard-rock elements of the record, creating an intriguing and essential disparity to NNEC’s sound. It sounds effortlessly brilliant. Whilst it’s a mere adrenaline shot compared to their full-length album, ‘Cars’, the quality of material here far surpasses that of their debut.

The great depth to the new songs helps to elevate it above anything else they’ve done; the initial gloss of ‘Roomates’ is under set by frighteningly domineering yet childish lyrics (“I am the shy one; I don’t have to say very much to get what I want”). This juvenile quality to Cacie’s voice makes lyrics such as “I have lost my mind since the day I’d found you’d died” on ‘Jesus Camp’ eerily touching, just before it soars into something all the more epic. As the brightness of the title track brings a much needed ray of light to the end of the EP, it highlights how naturally the songs on ‘Neighbors’ flow together.

Despite overlooking the more established melodies on ‘Cars’, ‘Neighbors’ explores less obvious hooks with so much depth and meaning that it demands repeated listens. They have created a record which feels complete; a record which gives everything it can give.

5/5

'Neighbors' by Now, Now Every Children is available through Bandcamp for 24 hours only.

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Alex Howick