Ammar - '(nevermind)'
‘(Nevermind)’ - the latest single from the Connecticut alt-punker is a succinct and focussed rumination on unrequited love.
"I envisioned this song as a love letter that I wrote and instantly threw away" explains Ammar. "I had no intention of telling this person how I truly felt, as love has been my relentless adversary..." This resignation seeps through every aspect of "(nevermind)", even the arrangement feels sludgy and loose.
The track opens with a punchy groove, the guitars and drums almost feel like a cut off 'In Rainbows' by Radiohead. Harmonised, arpeggiated chords are punctuated by saturated interjections from the bass. Tastefully tuned vocals sit on top. The opening verse gives way to a super fuzzed-out pre-chorus. The bass keeps driving forward whilst the drums drop out completely.
"Falling for you any way / and now you wanna run away" sings Ammar in the chorus, whilst filtered guitars ring out in the background, adding a Strokes-y feel. The whole song is brought to a close with the earlier broken chords, only this time they're alone... how fitting.
Ammar has said he is "at heart... a punk". The noise and abandon of "(nevermind)" certainly give that impression. The track is held together by strong melodic lines - he clearly has an ear for them. The production is equally potent but also has a feeling of deterioration... There is a sense of inevitability and acceptance, lyrically, like love for another is an unwieldy freight train waiting for the tracks to quit. "I've always wanted to believe that magic isn't hard to find" Ammar says, "only to surrender to the inevitable conclusion: nevermind."
Words by Joe Boon
