Written in a cabin in the High Desert town of Wonder Valley, Calif., A Different Kind Of Energy (Anxiety Blanket) lives up to its title. The fully instrumental project is a notable shift from Nick Flessa’s previous work.
“Given the verbal emphasis of my last record (2024’s The Politics Of Personal Destruction), I felt I’d put into words everything I wanted to express in that way—at least for the time being,” says the Los Angeles-based Flessa. “Removing the language factor opened up a greater emphasis on space and the physical experience of listening. I think of ‘The Right To Remain Silent,’ the lone instrumental track on the Silver Jews album The Natural Bridge. The titles were a fun and exciting challenge. They nod to a context, and then the feeling and experience of the music places the listener in their own interpretation of that context.”
Any album that kicks off with a track titled “Death Of A Natural Wine Salesman” can’t be all bad. And in fact, Flessa’s third solo album is mostly great—its widescreen cinematic beauty unsullied by the human voice or the awkward insinuation of prose. When his nimble picking isn’t at the forefront, J.D. Carrera’s liquid pedal steel serves as trail guide, steered by Gina Segall’s winding bass lines and Ross Chait’s chunky drumming, with moody viola interludes from Nicki Chen. The eerie menace of the LP’s latest single, “The Terror, The Traitor And The Tastemaker,” evokes a tense stand-off that unravels into a manically choreographed climax worthy of a Robert Rodriquez pulp western.
Along with producer Neil Wogensen, this group of players has been collaborating for years, and you can almost taste the chemistry—like a sulphury trace on the lips after a gunfight.
“Picture a man, a woman and a large body of water,” says Flessa. “Picture another man at the other end of the water. I’ve been on both sides. An earlier working title for the track was ‘Annihilation Of Doubt,’ which speaks to one narrative arc—breaking through any hesitation into a place of commitment to a course of action. I also think about the unraveling that happens during a traumatic event, followed by the strength built moving forward. The Terror, the Traitor and the Tastemaker are three players in the spiritual warfare. Fear and trembling, betrayal and the commodification of good taste—all shattered.”
We’re proud to premiere Nick Flessa’s “The Terror, The Traitor And The Tastemaker.”A Different Kind Of Energy is out April 17.
—Hobart Rowland
