Nymph, Millennium Prayer

What's new under the sun? To me at least the band Nymph is a very new thing. I have been listening to their album Millennium Prayer (Northern Spy 040) for a number of consecutive days and I come away with a feeling that this is music that is NEW. They operate in a dynamic zone that features some great two-guitar interplay between Matty McDermott and Jim McHugh, some very ritualistic vocalizing by Eri Shoji, and a full band going at it on all fours, including sax and trumpet, percussion, bass and drums.

The music takes its own sort of psycho-trance, progressive-minimalist jamband-immediate sound and goes places with it. They are less involved with flat out jamming in the formulaic sense as they are in building parts up from scratch, some pre-ordained, some free, some sounding like extemporizations that fit the trance riffs, especially the intensely interesting lead guitar work. There are some great droning, raga rock moments too.

You take a few listens to get into it, then BOOM, it comes together. I can't say they sound particularly like anybody, because they don't. They do have some lineal connection with late '60s blow out bands but they take the impetus from there and make it all new.

Nymph? Check them out!!