Album Review: VUKOVI - 'NULA'
Being ambitiously labelled as “a careful sonic blending of nu metal, shoegaze, rock, punk, pop, electronics and samples”, Scotland’s dynamic duo VUKOVI have unleashed the soundtrack to an intergalactic explorer’s life and adventures. Everyone, meet NULA.
Being the band’s third full-length, NULA is a tale of a world beyond and a world too close. There are serious topics touched upon in such a way that seems fictional, almost unimaginable, but are all too real. Set 25 years after Nula’s unfortunate capture, each track is a scream of help, desire or the yearning for a better tomorrow.
With a super sci-fi opening of ‘Departure’, it prepares the listener for a thrilling tale. Following a robotic introduction “thanking” people for “cooperation”, the story kicks off hard and the sounds kick off harder.
“Quench” is a story of lust and desire, being an overt anthem asking for sexual satisfaction. A topic the band feels is not covered enough from a feminine perspective, and works for a character who is longing for liberation. All types of liberation. It’s an example of how the band are using these storytelling songs to reflect their own thoughts and feelings on real-world down-to-Earth subjects; and it works. The music is loud and fun, the subject matter is freeing and exciting, and it spreads a good message. It’s all someone could want out of their science fiction full-length record.
There are more personal stories being discussed within the record also, including touching upon mental illness and disordered in the tracks ‘I Exist’ and ‘SLO’. ‘I Exist’ is a climax in Nula’s story, as the 4.5 minute long song is one of the loudest, deepest, and most important parts of the entire album. Discussing wanting to fly away and “wake up on the other side”, while also talking about a “temporary feeling” separate from suicidal thoughts and contemplations, it is broken up partway as there is a lull in the screaming vocals and harsh guitar riffs with the repetition of one phrase. “I am Nula and I am free”. All Nula wishes for is freedom and after her 25 years in capitalist captivity, it looks like this is where it happens. She now exists.
The most powerful song is saved to close off the record, which is appropriately titled ‘XX’. A mix of melodic vocals and spoken-word poetry from frontwoman Janine Shilstone, it’s used to speak out against what is labelled “the system”. This could refer to any institution in society, one that embraces inequality and hostility over fairness and acceptance, but can also refer to Nula’s captors within the tale being told. Shilstone’s use of “she” and “her” throughout her spoken interludes implies that she is closing off Nula’s story while also opening eyes and ears to the narrative that plagues the real world surrounding her. Capitalism, toxic masculinity, gender inequality, sexual scrutiny; these should exist in the pages of a sci-fi novel and not before the world’s very eyes.
With the end of ‘XX’, the album ends and the story is closed with what is hopefully an empowering ending to Nula. The trials have been won and the troubles have ceased, and the listeners can take a deep breath of relief. The worst is over - now for the world to take over.
NULA stands as a very drastic retelling of the current world’s problems and faults in a way that makes them seem not exciting or idyllic, but unbelievable. Like a work of fiction. That itself is a strong message about how the world is turning and how all hope is disappearing with the blink of an eye. VUKOVI have managed to bring injustice to the masses, but in a way that will keep everyone wanting to know more, and keep them feeling angered and irritated by the treatment of the titular traveller. Maybe if one is frustrated with the treatment against Nula, they can learn to be frustrated with that treatment among thousands and millions of real people with real suffering?
One woman, one story, one lesson: make this world better. Thank you NULA.
Words by Jo Cosgrove
