Album Review: Microwave - 'Let's Start Degeneracy'
Microwave’s fourth album ‘Let’s Start Degeneracy’ is packed full of reassurances that it’s okay to experience difficult emotions during many different stages of our lives, a realisation so many of us may often find ourselves struggling to accept. This realisation amongst others, are reflected in Nathan Hardy’s own revelations about being a musician, and a human being.
April 26th brings an exciting, brand-new release from Atlanta-hailing Microwave, their fourth and latest album is titled ‘Let’s Start Degeneracy’. Ahead of their latest release, microwave also released the single ‘Bored of Being Sad’.
The band opens the album with the track ‘Portals’, and the other worldliness of the song does make us almost feel like we are being transported to the world Microwave have built for this album. The soft melancholy lyrics create a sense of intense longing for someone to return home, a feeling everyone will be familiar with in their lives, particularly during difficult moments – often the one thing we want during these moments is one person, whether that be a partner, a relative or even a friend.
‘Circling The Drain’ picks up the pace of the album a little more, and it feels like vocalist and guitarist Nathan Hardy captures the frustration we experience as humans at challenging times in our life. The track celebrates tackling these moments where we may feel like giving up, and ultimately overcoming these thoughts and moving on passed what we may have once thought was something we couldn’t face head on.
The third track of ‘Let’s Start Degeneracy’ is the previously released single ‘Bored of Being Sad’, and the song finds Nathan Hardy reflecting on the challenges of being in a band, and how often the sadness of a musician is romanticised. ‘Bored of Being Sad’ forces its listeners to consider the ways in which they also view artists as people, as well as perhaps encourages them to think about how the industry may treat them and reminds us that at the end of the day, they are just people who experience human emotions too. Additionally, it gives us a moment to think about how people treat us in our own lives too and encourages us to evaluate whether this is something that we are happy with. ‘Bored of Being Sad’ addresses the negative aspects of being an artist and reminds Microwave’s listeners about the importance of viewing musicians as people too.
If the seventh song of the album ‘Omni’ was a time of year, it’d be the moment where spring hasn’t quite tipped over into summer yet. ‘Omni’ begins soft and gentle before bursting into bright sounding guitars and an upbeat tempo, it leaves the taste of summer in your mouth as you listen and makes you think of all the potential adventures you could have in the summer. The track feels like a breath of fresh air, remarkably bright and untainted by anything in the world. It feels as though the song tries to focus on being hopeful of things always being able to get better, while also acknowledging that to be human, we do have to experience the not-so-great moments in life too.
Microwave bring ‘Let’s Start Degeneracy’ to a close with the track ‘Huperzine’, which ties the album together nicely. It gives us a moment to slow down and appreciate the album in its full glory, ‘Huperzine’ feels like the perfect way to close an album that has been reminding us this entire time to stop and take a moment for ourselves.
If the knowledge that Microwave’s fourth album is set for release on the 26th of April wasn’t enough for you, April also sees them heading out on a European and UK tour with The Dirty Nil which concludes in London on April 24th. The Atlanta-hailing trio look like they’re just kicking off the year for Microwave, and it’s exciting to see what comes next from them.
Words by Bethany Ellis
