When Drop Nineteens announced last year that they were getting back together and recording a new album, it came as a surprise even in an era when it seems every band reunites. The Boston group were only together for a few years in the early ’90s, releasing shoegaze cult classic Delaware in 1992 and then National Coma the next year before calling it quits not too long after. The band never got the attention some of their UK shoegaze brethren did at the time but their influence has grown. Hard Light gets the classic lineup of the band back together and is the great follow-up to Delaware that National Coma should’ve been. It may actually be their best-ever record, with nods to their past but sporting some modern moves, too. Read our review of the album and listen below.
We asked singer/guitarist Greg Ackell to tell us more about Hard Light and he offers up five albums that helped shape the record and the idea of exceeding expectations “by not giving people precisely what they were asking for…but what they needed.” Those include records by Madonna, LCD Soundsystem, Spoon, Deerhunter, and Polvo. Read that below.
Greg Ackell – 5 Albums that helped shape Drop Nineteens’ Hard Light
Spoon – Transference
Spoon. Could have picked any one of their albums as an inspiration for Hard Light. I also could have made this list five Spoon albums, because there’s no band I listen to or study more. But then I’d have to leave five Spoon albums out. Britt sounds a little exasperated on this one, coming down from heights of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga probably. And it’s his least favorite Spoon album. He does seem a little lost. But it’s a very honest album (as a result?). It’s still the only album they self-produced. That line “Times that we met before we met”-just smart as hell. “Out Go the Lights” and “Nobody Gets Me But You” have the kind of outros that make outro heavy bands (like my own) British racing green with envy. It’s hard to make a great album, not sure I’ve made one yet. Now imagine making TEN albums without any being the slightest bit short of great. They didn’t even slip one mediocre one in. Spoon.
Madonna – Madonna
From the moment this album came out I couldn’t shake it. What has it been, 40 years now and counting? This is the one album on this list I’d take with me (if you catch my meaning) if I had to choose. It’s in my fabric, in my blood. To Paula’s eternal consternation I’m always asking her to sing more like Madonna, or more specifically like Madonna on “Physical Attraction”. I think we found the perfect opportunity for her to do just that on the track “The Price Was High”. To her credit, she nailed the mandate AND sounds exactly like Paula Kelley, which is all I actually ever wanted. That’s the key to an effective inspiration, it should make you more you, which is the only thing you have any business being in the first place.
Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
Part of being in Drop Nineteens means I get asked about shoegaze a lot. But I might be one of the last persons people should ask about it. I’m no authority on the genre. That’s said, I would describe this as a perfect modern shoegaze album. Someone asked me recently what makes a perfect album. The answer is simple. You can’t find the weak link. There’s no superfluous or lacking song, part, note, word, or beat on this brilliant creature, this perfect beast. My favorite thing to do when it comes to perfect albums (of which there are precious few) is to try choosing my least favorite song. If it’s perfect, this should be an impossibility.
LCD Soundsystem – American Dream
Same as Spoon, every one of their albums is an inspiration. This being their “comeback” album lands it on this particular list. The expectations for the long-awaited follow-up to This Is Happening were understandably high. What impresses me about James and Co. here is how they exceed those expectations by not giving people precisely what they were asking for, but something, once heard, they needed. Who among their fans would have predicted LCD’s sexiest record in their oeuvre just as they’re pushing 50? Listen to “I Used To” and “Oh Baby” and just try to tell me I’m wrong about that. We were keenly aware of the expectations for our new album after a 30-year hiatus. If Hard Light isn’t what they expect (whoever they are), it might be because we were more interested in trying to create something they’d need.
Polvo – Shapes
As far as I’m concerned this might be the last truly great album that came out of the 90’s. To be fair, I tuned out completely for years and years just after this came out in ‘97, so this may only be true for me.
But I’m fairly comfortable daring you to show me a more understatedly cool album with guitars as good as these from that or any era. Ash Bowie really lives up to his namesake on this one (no short order). Shapes is a treasure trove of guitar motifs and concepts for anyone with a fierce love of the instrument. Hard Light is peppered with these throughout its 11 tracks, but I’d prefer if we kept that just between us.
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Drop Nineteens will tour in 2024, including a Brooklyn show at Warsaw on April 20 and the Sick New World festival. All dates:
DROP NINETEENS: 2024 TOUR DATES
4/17/24 / The Atlantis / Washington, DC
4/18/24 / Union Transfer / Philadelphia, PA
4/19/24 / The Paradise / Boston, MA
4/20/24 / Warsaw / Brooklyn, NY
4/24/24 / New Parish / Oakland, CA
4/25/24 / The Belasco / Los Angeles, CA
4/27/24 / Sick New World Fest / Pasadena, CA