Cassette Review: Nearr "Introduction to..." (Rok Lok Records)

[$5 // Edition of 30 // https://roklokrecords.bandcamp.com/album/introduction-to]

Since this is called "Introduction to Nearr" I can only assume it is one of the first collections of music released by Nearr and as such I don't feel so badly about not hearing of Nearr before now.    Though it does seem somewhat fitting these days for a band to release something and call it "Debut EP" when it's in reality their sixth or seventh release.   Anyway, can someone call Jonah and ask him if he can bring back Far for a split with Nearr?  The young Grover in me would be so pleased.

The songs of Nearr start off in this dark dreamy way with drum machine beats.   The first song is really something the likes of which you've never heard before and I absolutely love it.   It had me hooked from that first song, where it doesn't just come out pleasing to the ears but it also brings you into it in the way that you're going to stop what you're doing and focus on listening to this.     While the second song takes a turn for the EFS side of things, the third song seems to combine the two sounds and that's even better.

That idea of EFS and what I like to call the Groovie Ghoulies returns during what are otherwise melodic songs which are familiar enough for you to find comfort in, but they are also venture over towards the sound of something like "Pretty In Pink" or what would have been playing a high school dance when I was in high school (if I went to dances) but for purposes of a reference just imagine it as being something out of "Better Off Dead" because John Cusack knew how to command a high school dance.

By the time Side A has found its end we reach a place of surf-psych rock ala Blue Oyster Cult and then Side B kicks off with a synth-filled lo-fi vengeance.   All that which was heard and explored on Side A comes back tenfold on Side B with it being mixed together now in a way which you can think of it as being like someone else and you have that name on the tip of your tongue (Is it Local H covering Simon and Garfunkel?) but it just becomes easiest to think of it as being Nearr now.

In the end, you can begin to hear something along the lines of that alt-country-folk rock that a lot of bands who play acoustic guitars can turn into, but it just brings this cassette into the type of sounds which you would want to fully hear from any artist.    I'm not sure if this was put together as an album in a traditional sense or if since it is serving as an introduction if it was put together as sort of a "Greatest Hits" idea but it definitely has more of a "Greatest Hits" vibe to it because Nearr embodies everything I love about cassette based rock music.