Album: Now Here is Nowhere
Year: 2004
. . .
One of the great lost singles of the mid-2000s, “Nowhere Again” captured me from the moment I saw the video on one of those “hey, here’s some new music” video programs on . . . shit, I don’t remember. I thought it was the 120 Minutes that was on MTV2, but that ended in 2003, so it must have been something else somewhere else. This is the problem with getting older.
Anyways, “Nowhere Again” is a supercharged psychedelic sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll song that kills me every time.
Cellophane flowers never happened for me
Been sleeping the day off
Watching the night fall
Covering nowhere
Filling my time shareThere’s a woman in the mirror in a firey state
As she motions to me, I start turning away
She’s lifting her dress up
Trying to keep up
Oh, you’d be surprised
“Nowhere Again” is driven by drummer Josh Garza, who is doing the Grant Hart thing of playing eighth notes on his kickdrum like it’s the hi-hat while laying off of the hi-hat. That combined with a rumbling New Order bass and swooping synth played by singer Brandon Curtis all comes to a head each time they glide into the chorus, riding on Garza’s suddenly-loud snare drum.
How we race
While our lives
Erased
That chorus is all about space: as Ben Curtis squeezes searing leads in the background, there’s millions of years between each line of that chorus, especially between “while our lives” and “erased.”
After the second verse and chorus, there’s a great bridge which somehow gather even more momentum, as they pile on the instruments and the harmonies.
We know we’re lost, we’re lost, we’re nowhere now
We know we’re lost, we’re lost, we’re nowhere now
Now we know we’re lost and nowhere now
And then there’s a massive stop-time part: wham! wham! wham! wham! wham! Which leads right into the final verses.
Maybe the rain will stop following me
With millions of colors reflected in daylight
Right on the kickdrum
Turning the sound up
And now, at this point, they weave in treated overdubs of Curtis singing “erased . . . our lives” while continually barreling forward.
Theres a woman in the mirror in a firey state
She motions to me I start pulling away
She’s lifting her dress up
All the way up
Oh don’t look surprised
And that’s when “Nowhere Again” hit its climaxed, as it adds the massive stop times to the infinite space between “erased” and “our lives, and then remarkably starting back up again for a couple of measures.
“Erased” Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! “Our Lives!”
Song kicks back in.
“Erased” Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! “Our Lives!”
Song kicks back in.
And then, at the very end, the top it, with one last “erased”
Wham!
Wham!
Wham!
Wham!
Wham!
Wham!
Wham!
Wham!
Wham!
Wham!
Wham!
Wham!
Wham!
Wham!
Wham!
Wham!
Wham!
Wham!
Wham!
It’s just fucking amazing, and once again, it’s hard for me to imagine a better ending to any song. But of course, the world didn’t agree, and “Nowhere Again” and Now Here is Nowhere went exactly, well, nowhere.
But the again, I guess a song about being nowhere by a band called Secret Machines featuring a chorus about lives getting erased is pretty much writing its own fate, isn’t it?
“Nowhere Again”
“Nowhere Again” Official Music Video
“Nowhere Again” Live on Craig Kilborn
“Nowhere Again” Live at Reading, 2006
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