by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
After a few relatively quiet years, the wait for Erik Nervous’ next full length is nearly over. Following a great record with The Beta Blockers and the subsequent Bugs! LP (a true highlight in a catalog of highlights), the time has come for Immaturity, out this Friday, November 3rd via Feel It Records (Wet Dip, Citric Dummies, Spllit) and FatCat Records (Pure Adult, Queasy Pieces, Frightened Rabbit). A fixture of Indiana’s punk scene and beyond, Nervous aka Erik Hart has stayed busy over the past few years, performing with The Spits and producing records for Snōōper and beyond. It’s good to have him back doing his thing though, and Immaturity definitely feels like a new level of achievement for his animated post-punk and power-pop squalor. As a known Devo-tee, the imprint of the Akron legends is ever apparent in the Erik Nervous framework, but he’s moved beyond to incorporate more psychedelic elements, motorik rhythms that push toward cosmic, and just about all the brilliant scrapyard tonality one can hope from a pristine basement recording with instruments just a step beyond toys.
Following the squiggly synth punk chug of “Drop Dead” and it’s jangly art pop melodies, Erik Nervous is sharing one more preview before Immaturity’s release in the form of “Innanet”. The jerky song moves in stops and starts, fits and sputtering propulsion, bouncing off the walls with the occasional moment of jarring pause. It’s a song that leans into everything we’ve come to love about Erik Nervous’ music, there’s a sense of freedom and a boisterous knack for “hooks” without anything that actually qualifies for a traditional “hook”. Instead the song punches and tumbles its way into a agitated fury, howling with a fried sense of tempo to throw it off balance from the get go.