“Dark Creedence,” the opening track and lead single from Nap Eyes’ debut, Whine of the Mystic, begins with a pounding floor tom. A bass joins, thumping along on root notes only. The guitars chime, and eventually they’ll screech, but the chords never change.
Volumes and velocities ebb and flow while singer Nigel Chapman stays even-keeled. Never howling, his dense, literary lyrics are tunefully enunciated. But if his voice is totally under control, he’s singing about spiraling out of it: “Just get my drinking under control and I will live again.” The song, riddled with paradox, is Nap Eyes in a bottle—equal parts caveman and Shakespeare.\
The unfussy production makes “Dark Creedence” all the more intimate and tactile. Like all of the group’s work, it was recorded live, without overdubs—yes, that includes vocals.
As Chapman told Noisey last month, “The dynamics make sense because you hear how loud everyone is playing. When we get quiet we have the ability to reach [out] to each other, and the rhythm gets played in a certain way and we feed off of each other.” They’re pocket players—they listen to each other and flourish with meaning, rather than simply bashing away. Yet the musicians in Nap Eyes are also concise, and hardly ever withholding.