Devaney and Sue-Poi were both members of the neo-punk/grunge band The Static Jacks, but the band became inactive after the release of their second album. Devaney was inspired to start a new project after hearing "Electricity" by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark in his father's car, a track he listened to in his childhood. What started out as Devaney "fooling around" on a keyboard later evolved into Nation of Language, with the addition of Devaney's partner Noell and former Static Jacks bandmate Sue-Poi.
Reviewing their debut album "Introduction, Presence" from last year, David Glickman for Pitchfork said the songs on the album "reach the glory of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and The Human League through an attention to craft that many bands with the same influences fail to notice. The album is full of miniaturized synth flourishes and clear, crisp drum beats that were probably fussed over for months until they came out just right. Sue-Poi’s bass lines are the secret weapon, having learned Peter Hook’s lesson that the bass can be a powerful melody instrument...Introduction, Presence doesn’t offer any great reinventions. Notes of Altered Images, early Depeche Mode, or even modern contemporaries like Black Marble are impossible to ignore while listening. But their understanding of the genre they’re working in—its workings, tropes, and trappings—is so refined that they are able to boil it down to its barest essence, saving catharsis for just the right moment."
Being a huge fan of the original source material, I have to concur with Glickman. Nation of Language nails it. Just listen to the sheer forlorn beauty of this first song, "A Word & A Wave." And please do listen to the equally wonderful tracks, the bouncy and sparkling "This Fractured Mind" and the urgent "Across That Fine Line."
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