records of ’09: Love Of Diagrams – Nowhere Forever

Love Of Diagrams’ second album colours in the stark post-punk that was previously their stock-in-trade with dense, gauzy layers of guitar. In retrospect, “going shoegaze” – which is kind of what they’ve done here – actually seems like the logical step forward from their earlier work (antecedents can be heard in mildly reverb-drenched songs like The Pyramid), but when Nowhere Forever was released in August people were, I suppose, pleasantly surprised.

Influences are worn on sleeves (Swervedriver, Ride, My Bloody Valentine, etc) and the lyrics can become a bit meaningless if you try to break them down too much, but this album just sounds AMAZING – simultaneously languid, urgent, poignant, paranoid and above all, huge. LoD haven’t made anything terribly ground-breaking with Nowhere Foreverbut they have made something endlessly listenable – my friend Jon and I found it staying in his car stereo and my CD player for weeks. And it is distinctly their own sound despite all the above – anyone writing this album off as ‘too derivative’ hasn’t given it a chance yet.

One of the best things about this album is its sincerity. This is pretty much an irony-free record – such a relief! And of course the best thing about this album is how loud it is without being grating or jagged. I first listened to the whole thing through new headphones on the way to work after a huge night out and it was like pouring warm honey on my brain.

Love Of Diagrams are launching the vinyl version of Nowhere Forever at the Annandale Hotel, Sydney, on the 9th of January with Ghosts Of Television and The Laurels.

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