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Mar 12, 2018 Web Exclusive By Ed McMenamin

Some records don’t make sense until you hear them in a car, at a party, or over an action movie bank robbery. I’m Bad Now is a walking record, in the best way, timed to the rhythm of a stroll to get you out of the damn house. To follow Nap Eyes frontman Nigel Chapman’s sardonic advice for wasting your time away, take all those things you hate and dig them “deep out from your day and never let them go/even if your friend tells a good joke/and you don’t even smile/even if it feels natural.”

It’s unclear if Chapman is following or fighting his mock advice, or making any progress since his desire on 2015’s Whine of the Mystic to just get his drinking under control and “live again.” He may have bargained instead, as he now sings on the Canadian group’s third record about replacing gin with white wine. The band has also traded the drums-in-front sound of the first two outings for something with more twang. It’s still indie rock for hangovers. But the country influences that have lurked around the fringes of Nap Eyes’ sound for years are more out in the open, especially in lead guitar work that focuses more on accompanying the vocal melodies rather than providing abstract atmosphere. Personal taste will determine whether that’s a good or bad thing. As, production aside, Chapman’s still coming at modern dissatisfaction, alienation, and general self-loathing from a familiar and oddly reassuring place. (www.napeyes.bandcamp.com)

Author rating: 7.5/10