by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
We last caught up with Philadelphia’s Nyxy Nyx toward the tail-end of 2018, just ahead of the release of their album Magic Coffin Ride, but in the time since, the band has released two EPs, with a new full length on the way. Spirit Exchange is that very album, due out March 6th via Blight. Records (Luna Honey, Tadzio, PREE), an eclectic record that works through cosmic folk and warm psych-pop. Led by Brian Reichert, eleven albums in, his ideas are still taking whatever form best to explore how to present himself with open contemplation.
“Courtney,” the album’s first overdriven song (at track four), has a guitar line reminiscent of early Queens of the Stone Age, though I don’t think anyone will be mixing the two up anytime soon. Nyxy Nyx mix that driving boogie with a simplistic rhythm and a post-punk wail, calling out for the titular Courtney with a romantic inflection that feels more new wave than anything else the track has to offer. It’s the mix of styles that they’ve built their reputation on, one minute stoned and space-bound, the next lush with reverb and grounded in another reality altogether. It’s delicate songwriting that’s been rattled into noisier realms, the sense of clarity through the fog.