‘Everything Dies’ is a ten track album ringing with raw and poignant sentiment. Heavily driven by sincere lyrics, it offers a chance to reflect and critique, without leaving out the darkest and most fragile thoughts. Songwriter Em Foster uses her own experiences to give a personal touch to their work, dominating each song and allowing room for a connection with the listener.
Opener ‘Congratulations’ is an introduction to the tone of the record, fading in gently with a steady and simple beat before breaking into lyrics “before you’re born, they paint the room the colour you will prefer when you exist.” Cleverly done, this begins the discussion and exploration of our pre-determined past and the difficulty found in breaking away in order to design your own future. This motif is also considered in ‘Sick Sad World’ which is a buoyant piece concentrating on life starting at 29 after wasting time being “lost in someone else’s life.”
Centerpiece ‘It Follows’ is the core of the album which from start to finish is a lively persuasion of the danger found in becoming too comfortable in a life which isn’t for you. “I bit my tongue so hard it bled for days and days” gives us a reflective marker on all the words left unsaid and the internal damage it causes. The video for this has already been released with a competition for fans to remake their own version, encouraging them to express themselves for a chance to win a pink signed vinyl of the album.
By this point we’re accustomed to the realism found in each song, provoked harder in ‘Medicine’ which starts with an echoic, amiable force showcasing its repetitiveness. The lyrics include the process of someone taking notes, toying with the idea of therapy that was subtly injected to us through the title. This becomes a starting point of the almost nostalgic backbone of ‘The Way Back’ that opens with a bumpy guitar and the reflection to a time where you thought you knew what you wanted.
Penultimate tune ‘Hold Tight’s lengthy yet silk like instrumental drifts into ‘Fall Apart,’ an evocative conclusion lifting the fault away from us with line “I know that I did everything I could.”
‘Everything Dies’ is a very well put together album and the comparison between this and 2016’s ‘Permanent Rainbow’ can only be found in their determination to discuss real issues. As a group, Nervus have progressed in their artistic variation and sound, so much that it feels like they are further along in their career than they are. Unafraid to use their talent to articulate sensitive topics into art, this record should generate the attention it deserves.
LOUISE TINDALL