Now is the 4th album by noisy, loop-driven Finnish instrumental duo NYOS.
Originally self-released in 2019, the band sold a fuckton of records on tour, but Now, completely self-released, was never available in record stores. Their most mature album to date, a wide range of influences from math rock to post rock to drum-frenzy reminiscent of Lighting Bolt or Zach Hill is on display here. Listening to the album is another proof that the duo-setup often results in more creative and experimental songwriting, compared to larger ensembles with more musicians in them: there is more space, more room for trying out crazy things, loops, effects, without the risk of overloading the arrangements.
“NYOS solve a musical magic cube”, German VISIONS magazine wrote in their 9-score review of Now: “with every bar they turn one side, producing a new colour combination, until the thing slips back into its original state. Minimal composers like Philipp Glass or Steve Reich have laid the foundation for this idea, but Nyos are approaching it in a much less complicated way.” NYOS formed in 2014 when UK-born Tom Brooke and drummer Tuomas Kainulainen met after Tom moved to Finland. Bonded by a mutual love of noisy bands, coffee and playing shows, they quickly wrote their first album, Vltava, a 26-minutes one-track piece. Since 2015, the proactive band has played 200 gigs in over 20 countries, and their top tracks „Haikara“ and „Kelo“ have reached over 400.000 plays on Spotify – a considerable success given the grassroots DYI approach that the band has taken from day one: they have never been signed with any label, nor any booking agency.
