Nap Eyes
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Nap Eyes

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada | Established. Jan 01, 2014 | SELF

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada | SELF
Established on Jan, 2014
Band Alternative Rock

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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"Short Story Inspired by Song"

Edmund wore 41 like a bicycle helmet on grey hair, like a backpack on a suit jacket, he wore it like sneakers at the bank. He had thick brown hair, in a coif atop his head, he wore the cheap version of men's magazine clothing. He looked like Bobby Fischer, but less haunted. More daunted, unwanted. He let himself in through the back door of his ex-father-in-law's house. From his first marriage; Carolyn, mother of Evelyn. No one is home, he's dropping off a birthday gift in the kitchen. Kevin's kitchen, where so much greatness had been stirred, heated and watched. Kevin and Edmund had remained close after the split and all these years. Kevin was a poet, and the kitchen was proof of that. It was cluttered with warmth, the shelves all stacked to the ceiling, the many shades of wood interlocking with other wood. On the cutting board was a note he'd left for Edmund, a typically risky move from Kevin, anyone could have seen it:

"It seems my daughter's found herself in another mess. A customs officer named Garry with whitened teeth and a scary-looking dog. In love, it seems she's far more interested in the falling than in the getting up." - Said The Gramophone


"Review - Four More Songs By"

A quadruple threat from Halifax, Nap Eyes make music that is unmistakably their own, yet with a striking mood of familiarity. The melodies feel tattered and comforting, the words feel like a scripture you’d once memorized and since forgotten. The music is slack, but it comes on quickly. The songs roll by in a sing-a-long lull, but have an acute perspicacity powering them.

Here is the best exemplary metaphor I can muster: hearing other pop songs is like watching a spiralling, instantaneous high-dive by a taut and trained olympian. It’s super impressive, but suddenly the athlete is underwater and you have the sense of being cheated somehow, of being unable to perceive exactly what made the feat so impressive. Nap Eyes is the slow motion replay in which you can observe the rotations one by one, appreciate the hard-earned muscle tone and witness all the nuances of the sparkling water droplets. It looks much more glorious this way.

Last November, when they released their first four songs on a self-titled cassette, singer Nigel Chapman’s words felt righteous, sprawling and all-encompassing; a series of feverish, idiosyncratic dreams that typified the peculiarities of life’s emotional corridors. Comparatively, Four More Songs By presents longer songs, deeper explorations and a furthering of Chapman’s inimitable take on modern living. Backed by the familiar thrumming of Nap Eyes’ impeccable players, his wily voice is at once more venomous and more vulnerable, his points of interest further out and further in.

From a coastal town ripe with under-the-radar brilliance, Nap Eyes are the teeth in the mouth of the beast. Rarely seen, formally beautiful, solid and frighteningly sharp. - Southern Souls


"Review - Sappyfest Mainstage"

Nap Eyes, a Halifax outfit fronted by guitarist-vocalist Nigel Chapman, proved to be one of the surprise gems peppered throughout SappyFest's carefully curated lineup. Quality over quantity was the theme, with the quartet playing only a handful of songs, all stately and chiming, with space-gazing guitar solos, courtesy of Each Other's Brad Loughead, scrawled into the verses.

Chapman's lyrics were spirited and poetic, while his voice was rich and gusty, almost reminiscent of a different era. As impressive as the music was, the singer seemed unmistakably modest. With half of his blond hair hanging in his face, Chapman, dressed in a silken kaleidoscopic shirt (blouse?) and jeans, bounced between bashful and playful banter in between songs, his gaze shifting downwards often.

While he adjusted his mic before the final tune, the frontman encouraged the crowd to purchase their EP, adding with a smile that "it means more to us to gain the $5 than it does for you to lose them." With the charming set as proof, it'd hardly be a loss. - Exclaim!


"Best Songs of 2012"

Sour and beautiful indie folk-pop, from Halifax, like the Velvet Underground crossed with Fairport Convention, Lou Reed drawling Thomas the Rhymer. Keats going through a break-up. OK but less esoteric than that. I tried to write a story about it: I do not always understand the Acolyte's parables... - Said the Gramophone


"En Peripherie"

Le groupe haligonien Nap Eyes lançait un premier maxi l’an dernier, avec les excellentes Heavy Like It Is et Your Samples Our Obsession. Suite à une performance remarquée lors de la dernière édition du Sappyfest, Nap Eyes propose un nouvel EP, Four More Songs, où le quatuor prends tout le temps nécessaire pour installer et développer une idée (White Disciple), sans perdre le côté brute de ses progressions pop garage (Madames of Fortune). Chanson pop flâneuse ou revival jangle? Qu’importe, A Stolen Boy est un petit bijou de rock indé. Le son est unique, pourtant on revient naturellement vers ces chansons. Nap Eyes est un des groupes les plus intéressants de la côte est. - 500khz


"This Year in Music - #1 Band"

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across Nap Eyes Bandcamp page via a recommendation by Each Other. As fate would have it, I have found the greatest new band ever. These are some strong words, as there is very little information about them. You can search (believe, me I've scoured the internet,) but only find snippets. Here are some facts about this band: 1.) They hail from Halifax. 2.) They have a Bandcamp page, maybe a Last.fm page too, but who uses that shit? 3.) They have a very small number of live videos on Youtube. 4.) A few people have written about them (all praise) on some obscure blogs/websites, much like this one! 5.) There's no five, that's it. However, while for the most part their persona is shrouded in mystery, the music they create speaks volumes about them. When I first listened to their self-titled I thought there was no way way this could possibly be new. Nap Eyes sound like a band that was once, long ago, like some 90's band you never knew existed, THAT WAS DOING SOME 60's REVIVALIST SHIT or something. But, here they are, 2012, completely out of place in the modern music world. Honestly, for me, this just adds to their appeal. While technically, not a full album, the lazily, yet appropriately titled For More Songs By... is immediately appealing. I cannot tell you how much I've listened to it; it's astounding. "Madames of Fortune" kicks off with this simple strummed guitar, as he opens with, "Now the Madames of fortune, will never know the depths of my pain..." I mean you just know you're listening to something different, something special. The singer/songwriter Nigel Chapman has a way with words, deeply sad, yet spiritual, that really resonates with me. And as the drums come in with that buildup, it's over for me. "Four Strong Winds" is this really great sluggish jam that has verses and changes that don't fit the traditional song structure, but somehow work. I love the way on "A Stolen Boy" there is this excellent breakdown, which sounds like this 50's doo-wop ballad ala "Earth Angel". Finally, there is "White Disciple," the single most greatest song I've heard all year, maybe even for as long as I can remember. I mean you just have to hear it. It's fantastic. Only a mere two months later they give us Tribal Thoughts, a sloppy, twenty some minute collection of old and new songs, and I will do my best to break it down for you. There are around eight to ten short tracks here, each interrupted by a loud WHOOOMPH, or a small interlude of what I like to call "noodling." The first is this awesome title track of sorts, which is followed by this one minute cover of The Smiths "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now." Track "3" is this acoustic number that remains one of my favorites, going straight into another awesome jam, reminiscing of Nap Eyes first show. Next we have a sped up version of "Become Our Next Raving Fan," which you can find the original on Nap Eyes'Self titled (not to be missed.) It's hard say with the rest of it, as there's really no telling if one of the jams is a full song, or part of another one. Towards the end, we get what sounds like a b-side or live version of "White Disciple," and then some more "noodlings". It all remains interesting though, as you can hear the band just hitting you with a bunch of ideas for songs, but that is my interpretation. To those that know me, my bread and butter is and has always been 90's indie rock. Nap Eyes have this really simple approach: clean guitar(s), bass, drums; in other words, no bullshit. No fancy production, no special pedals or gimmicks, WHICH IS REFRESHING. The reason I am making such a big deal about Nap Eyes is that when I listen to their music, I hear a ton of artists that I love. I hear a band that has the rawness of early Pavement. I hear the glorious lo-fi recording aesthetic of, and the ability to write GREAT pop rock songs, as Guided By Voices. I hear the Velvet Underground in the influences of their music. I see The Jesus and Mary Chain in their stage presence, (the drummer, playing standing up, with his "less-to-nothing" kit.) I hear echoes of Jeff Mangum on the acoustic track in Tribal Thoughts. I hear Ian McCulloch in the way he sings, "Forget me not..." and I hear The Smiths actually. And yet, still, I hear something new and wonderful. I feel this band, Nap Eyes, have such incredible potential. I feel there is an honesty about them that other bands don't possess. This makes them more than deserving of my favorite album of the year. Nap Eyes cause a ruckus. Set once and for all, The song in the skull, To win evil hearts , And not know what to do with them all. Set once and for all, The song in the skull, To win people's hearts, And not know what to do with them all. - Jason Micheal Harris


"Whine Of The Mystic Review"

Nap Eyes' Whine of the Mystic is a ragged splendour, one of the best things in ages. A band from Halifax with a sound like young caterpillar and old silk, like the Velvet Underground and Electrelane and Destroyer and Guided by Voices. Like liking a drink you know isn't good for you; that's good for you, that's good for you, that you know isn't good for you.

Or a man that's (not) good for you, or a place. Music as simple as Nap Eyes' seems adaptable to many metaphors. Like a towel, like a gun, like a US treasury bond - you could use this in lots of different ways. They are a rock band just so faintly tripping. They are priests of Shaolin and the Holy See, with electric guitars in their hands, with an un-fancy drum-kit. When I finally saw them live they didn't look like they much; but I noticed the white and silver highlights on their instruments, the white and silver highlights of their lightly shearing songs.

"No Fear of Hellfire" is a meditation, "The Night of the First Show" is a shaggy recollection. Two flavours of spring ice. (Ice as in British ices: popsicles, creamsicles; not April's cold streaks.) The first song canters, the second rollicks. One tells a story, one tells much less of a story. One is lemon-sour and one is cherry-sweet; I'll let you choose which is which. Nap Eyes' songs are mazey and riddled, but ambivalent about their mazes, ambivalent about their riddles; in this way they remind me of good smoke, holy incense smoke, always true to its incantation. - Said The Gramophone


"Favorites of 2012"

"[...]Quite honestly, I can’t remember a band in recent years that won me over as quickly as Nap Eyes. The songs are gritty and move confidently, but with a freedom and flexibility. Guitar solos and spontaneous vocals hint at the genius of The Velvets, but Nigel’s humility and unique world view prevent this from ever being derivative.

His words bite when needed, but more often than not, Nigel’s heart is often on display. He holds court as a regal statesman but can transform mid stream (often mid thought) into the role of submissive stable boy. That powerful contrast speaks to the opposition between who we are and who we want to be, and adds a new layer to the tried and true persona Lou Reed and Bowie perfected.

But there’s more at work than a front man with a swagger and sharp wit. The band in general is gritty, but the guitar work shimmers. The melodies are catchy as hell, supportive and open, giving Nigel the required space but never leaving him too exposed. This is great stuff; the type of music that connects with you viscerally and is more than simple summation of components. This music, not only offers heart, it depends on it. " - Herohill


"Whine Of The Mystic Review"

From the paranoid delirium of Josh Boguski:

Considering the eccentric history of Nigel Chapman’s songwriting, it’s no surprise that Montreal’s anticipated new label, Plastic Factory, chose Whine of the Mystic as its first release. Recorded at the elusive Drones Club, this saintly record radiates with the light of the community from which it was born. The instrumentation of Halifax veterans Josh Salter, Seamus Dalton, and Brad Loughead mutate Chapman’s empathetic folk into anthemic grooves. Sometimes noisy, sometimes introspective, but always tasteful, Nap Eyes are a band you can proudly take home to Mom. - Weird Canada


"Southern Souls: Interview with Nigel by Andrew Patterson"

Interview by Andrew Patterson with illustration by Kristian Bauthus

There was a period of time, roughly six or seven years ago, wherein I found myself deeply immersed in Halifax’s music scene. I was playing in bands, going to shows quite regularly and, as is often the case in modestly sized Canadian towns, I began to befriend some of the musicians whose work I really admired. In those days, as soon as the after-parties commenced and the pleasantries were disposed of, I found myself asking those musicians one after the other, “Whose work do you admire?”. Invariably, over and over, I heard the same name. This is how I got to know Nigel Chapman.

At that time, Nigel was performing as The Mighty Northumberland, albeit quite rarely. Hot Money Records, a local imprint, had just released their most ambitious product to date: a double-CD collection of Mighty Northumberland recordings, A Dream Of Rivers and The Human Soul. Naturally, I sought it out. To my surprise neither collection did much for me.

In hindsight, I think I understand why I wasn’t immediately taken by those albums. My disinterest with them was, in part, due to the lofty expectations set by such high praises. Though, more accurately, Nigel’s work was beyond me: I was interested in flashier music that I didn’t have to think too hard about. In contrast, Nigel’s songs were tender. His performances were unpolished, his structures were simple, and his lyrics were nuanced and intricate.

By the time his new project, Nap Eyes, debuted in 2011, I felt like I had gained some ground. I had spent the interim years coming to love his particular mode of artistry, internalizing The Mighty Northumberland albums bit by bit. Getting to witness Nap Eyes, a four-piece with Josh Salter, Seamus Dalton and Brad Lahead, from its inception was like watching a prized portrait being cut into an intricate new puzzle. I felt lucky to be on the cusp of such a fascinating band.

I felt even luckier when, this past January, I received a digital advance of Nap Eyes’ incredible debut LP, Whine Of The Mystic, with plenty of time to bone-up before sitting down with Nigel to discuss it. As a wonderful compliment to my weeks of close listening, Nigel, in a typically pensive and selfless mood, had a lot to offer in the way of understanding.

Where did you guys record the new album?

We recorded it at a jam space called Drones in Montreal. It’s where Brad, Mike [Wright] and Christian [Simmonds], Each Other, record and practice. A lot of bands jam and record there. Mostly people from Halifax, I think; a few from other places, too.

Mike Wright has recorded all the Nap Eyes stuff, right?

Yeah, since a long time ago. Well, actually he did the first EP and the second one was recorded with Dave Ewenson. But even way before Nap Eyes, Mike’s been there turning things from the more ephemeral this-is-how-we-see-the-song-for-right-now into something kind of real. If you don’t record it, those things never last, so he’s the one whose made it all possible. He’s the one connecting and organizing our friends a lot of the time. He’s got the practicality and the vision at the same time.

It’s interesting that you talk about the ephemeral nature of the songs, because you guys record everything live, right?

Yeah, all of our releases have been recorded live.

Why is that?

Well…[laughs] it’s partially from an idealized perspective, a refusal to compromise. But it’s also because perfectionism needs to be forced a little. Like, if you give the perfectionism an inch, it’ll take a mile. If you have the ability to correct things, or make changes, or build too much, then that correcting can take over.

I want to let some things go. I want to make songs and I don’t mean to be self-righteous about it. It’s just one way to make music. It feels good when I sing songs and record them that way.

Do you guys generally do a lot of takes?

[laughs] Depends on the song. Some we know better and those sometimes go more smoothly. Others can take, including false starts, fifty or more times, I guess.

Do the songs change much in that process?

I suppose that they do change. You hope that it’s a kind of honing in. They probably do get better, a little clearer; but there’s a danger in losing spontaneity if you take too long. So you have to know when to accept it.

I know with your solo project, The Mighty Northumberland, you had a period of releasing totally improvised material online. How does improvisation work its way into your practice? Does it with Nap Eyes?

Definitely, yeah. I mean, that period was kind of an extreme of being extemporaneous. But a song usually starts with an idea from the stream of consciousness, and sometimes there’s a thread in there and I can remember how I started the song. Those songs can be looped back around, deliberately or abstractly, and they become self-contained.

Other times, they just go wander off the rails. Which, I guess, is less entertaining for people because they aren’t as concise. They start to ramble.

Do you see your songs as linear or narrative?

In a way, sometimes… [pauses]. Linearity in terms of a concept more than a story. I don’t really ever know the concept until the end, when I look back at it. The most concise way to express the concept is the song, from start to finish. There isn’t usually a way to say those things with fewer words.

It sounds like you’re talking about an economy of ideas, which is interesting because the new record has, at least in Nap Eyes terms, some really short songs. Was that conscious effort?

I’m happy about that. I think it’s a good thing. It’s something I do want to try to do and when I have the mental concision, it works. The longer songs come from the extemporaneous monologues that have clear enough concepts that I can remember them and sing them again.

The old way I used to write was with a recording device nearby, and the words would start as sounds to go with the guitar, and the meaning would come to me after.

Speaking of words as sounds, I feel like the song ‘Tribal Thoughts’ contains the first wordless Nap Eyes vocal. Do you know what I’m referring to?

[laughs] Yeah, I think so.

Could you describe that sound? Or talk about its significance?

There’s so much meaning in the human voice, even without words, just in inflection. So if you’re listening to foreign language music, or even scat, or someone crying, it can have a potent effect even if it’s non-verbal.

I like to make that sound. It feels good. It became more clarified as we practiced it. I’m really happy to sing it, and I’m happy it became a song. I’m glad it didn’t fall by the wayside the way some of them do. What makes them last, I don’t know.

Do you conceive of songs as individual pieces? Or do you see them as a larger system? I ask because there seems to be a lot of recurring themes in Nap Eyes.

My thesis here would be that they should work as a system, because they’re supposed to be a reflection. Any art is supposed to be, like… [pause] worship of beauty and a reflection of life as it really is, one that points to profound values or a kind of idealism.

So my personal conception of art should go along with my personal conception of the universe and existence, which is definitely cyclical: from Big Bang, reaching, expanding, maximum, and then start returning inward, back to the golden seed again. Everything within that, down to the smallest micro-instant or nano-instant is contained and a part of the larger system. So even a small idea in a song is a part of the whole album.

I want to ask you specifically about some of those recurring themes. On the new record, there’s a song called ‘The Night Of The First Show’. In some ways, that song feels self-explanatory, but I was also there on the night in question, so maybe I have a better sense of what happened (or almost happened). Could you talk about that experience, and that song, in relation to self-reference?

Yeah. [long pause] If I sing to me, it helps clarify things. I do need that; to sing the songs again, to listen to them again.

In that song, I’m talking about the first concert we were scheduled to play. It was before Brad joined the band, so it was just me, Josh and Seamus. We’d been practicing and I was proud and happy. It came after a long period of standstill, so it was good to start playing and practicing again. So that night, in itself, wasn’t a mistake, or couldn’t have been entirely a mistake.

To get right down to describing it: at the practice earlier that night, I had brought a big bottle of whiskey, like, way too much whiskey to drink in a short period of time. Anyway, it was fun for that short period of time, but I just got really, way too drunk. I don’t know if I’ve been that drunk before or since.

The next day I woke up and walked into the kitchen and saw Mike. Suddenly I thought, ‘Oh no! Did I miss the concert?’. It hit me quickly. That was a period of finding balance in a new world. In a world where things mattered so much to me; I didn’t realize how much those things mattered until I got there.

I remember, in the days before Nap Eyes, the days of The Mighty Northumberland, that you had a reputation as a somewhat reluctant performer. Between then and now, it seems as though you found some comfort in that role. Can you talk about what it feels like to be onstage?

I do really like it, but I think sometimes to myself, ‘Why would I want to be a singer? Why do I want to be the centre of attention when I hate being the centre of attention?’. But then wondering that seems like pointless strife to put myself through.

I think I have some inhibitions that need a means of expression; I need a way to let them go. And I love to sing. It’s very powerful, it really charges, it give me a great feeling; especially when it’s going well. Though, there is a shyness and a great sense of self-reproach. If you value humility, and you want to be someone who doesn’t impose on others, then to get up on stage and have everyone listen to you and look at you, for all the joy that you feel, there has to be an equal amount of self-reproach.

It’s about striving for equanimity, not being to excited about good feelings and not being too dragged down by despair. You should be able to just experience both and then let go.

Another recurring theme in your songs is the idea of ‘friends’.

Friendship is one of the most important things. You can never quite weigh its value or its burden, you always fall short. And when I say ‘burden’, I mean that in the best way possible. I mean, I would love to live in an environment where I saw no other humans. There would be no surprises for me there.

But that would be good and bad, wouldn’t it?

Yes, of course. But that way I wouldn’t have to force a situation of company or force a situation of solitude. I would just listen to what my heart told me to do, and I would do that, instead of worrying about having to go to a concert or go support a student, or something like that.

When I listen to your songs, I get the sense that your friends offer you a sense of awareness or some kind of measurement of your being. Does that resonate with you?

Definitely. It’s a mirror for me. And everyone has that, thank God. [laughs] There’s no way to not get feedback from the world. The world will just give it to you.

The last theme I wanted to mention is religion. It figures quite prominently into a lot of Nap Eyes songs. And I dare say that having a song like ‘No Fear Of Hellfire’ sitting at the end of this new record feels like a kind of resolve of that theme. Does that reflect something really personal for you?

There’s definitely something very personal about every religious thought that I have. For any person, even if you’re rejecting it, you can’t do so impersonally. For me, I’m talking about concepts that I haven’t felt in any depth so far, but I do believe in them.

‘No Fear Of Hellfire’ is related to a strong personal experience of being excited about religion as a powerful thing. Y’know, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”. That kind of notion is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It’s taking things to an extreme… as a religious perspective will lead people to do if they aren’t thoughtful, equal-tempered, patient people.

If you take away the depth or significance of religion, it just presents you with two extremes that are so extreme that the human mind cannot conceive them. One is a magical heavenland of sweet clouds and God and nectar or whatever, and the other is a horrible, painful, burning hellzone. And you just keep putting yourself in one or the other. And those things are for an eternity, right? But there’s no real concept of eternity around here.

Anyway, I’m not trying to dismiss it all. I’m trying to hold on to certain ideas, but no fear of hellfire, for sure. None of that.

Let’s work our way back to some easier questions, try to wind down a little. This is the first Nap Eyes release with a title that isn’t simply pragmatic. How did it earn such a title?

Right, so the first two EPs were just Nap Eyes and Four More Songs By. This one is Whine Of The Mystic, which is a title that Josh came up with. He also came up with the band name.

Oh really? That was my next question.

Yeah, yeah. So I had this idea of what I thought the record was about thematically. All these things like existence and value, revelry and friendship, study and song, love; all these things. And the thing that I thought reflected all these ideas most fully is this poem that I’d been listening to. I had downloaded this audiobook by chance, or destiny [laughs] who knows. It’s a really famous poem by the Persian poet named Omar Khayyam.

He was a philosopher, a mathematician, a poet, and probably a great lover of existence. He obviously thought existence was great, but he didn’t mince words about the pain and the challenges of it. It’s all there in the imagery of this poem, which is called The Rubaiyat Of Omar Khayyam. It’s one of my favourite poems.

And the title comes from that poem?

Well, drinking wine is the theme of the poem.

In Omar Khayyam’s time in Persia, Islam was a very powerful force. And in that, there is a strong current of repression of enjoyment of things; things that are seen as evil, or ignoble, or damning. So many of the verses of this poem are a defence of these things. It tells the reader not to treat life like a dim house, not to hide away all the colours and pray all the time. There should be love, there should be these things.

[pauses]

[recites the poem from memory]

“Men call the Koran God’s Almighty word,
Yet read it rarely, or forget it quite;
Yet doth a graven verse the cup engird
That all men con, and all their tongues recite.

You drink not wine, but why the drinker flout?
Must I repent? First will I God forsake.
You always boast that wine you do without,
And yet a hundred weightier precepts break.”

These ideas really ring true to me, because getting high and getting drunk are great, y’know? But at the same time, I’ve had a very challenging relationship with intoxicants. It’s easy to do those things too much. Reading this was a kind of validation for me. There are great verses at the end of the poem that really highlight the dangers, too:

[further recitation]

“Lend me an ear, a warning I give thee,
For God’s sake do not wear a cloak of lies;
Now is but time, the end eternity,
Sell not for time, then, the eternal prize.”

Anyway, that’s where the title comes from. The Rubaiyat Of Omar Khayyam by Omar Khayyam, translated by H.M. Cadell.

But the album title is whine with an ‘h’, right?
[laughs] Yeah, right. Well, y’know, a little self-deprecation is good to engage in now and then. - Southern Souls


"Whine Of The Mystic Review"

Le premier album de Nap Eyes triomphe grâce à son lyrisme rock romantique et sa poésie mélodique intime. D’abord, la nonchalance de la bande s’attrape aisément, grâce à son caractère décontracté, voir radio AM de fin de soirée. Nap Eyes a la dégaine de Neil Young, le laisser-aller de Dylan et les repères d’Halifax en évidence, grâce aux guitares éclatantes et à la poigne protopunk.

Le leader Nigel Chapman fabrique ses propres codes avec cool et ironie. Sur Delirium and Persecution Paranoia, on retient l’énumération de toutes les deuxièmes secondes chances supplémentaires dont Chapman rêve. L’autodérision et le détachement juvénile s’entremêlent, pour notre grand plaisir.

Le groupe saisit ses hameçons de manière mécanique, un exploit étant donné la réalisation du disque, capturée d’un trait, à partir du plancher. Nap Eyes flâne dans son élément, tel ton chien couché en boule au bout de ton lit.

Les tentatives psychédéliques (Dreaming Solo) ont le prestige d’une ballade en Westfalia en Californie. Entre la force de frappe de sa rythmique primaire (No Man Needs To Care) et ses ambitions garages, Nap Eyes tire son épingle du jeu grâce à une série d’improvisations hypnotiques (No Fear of Hellfire).

Whine of the Mystic, c’est le kid mystérieux au perfecto de cuir, accoté contre la clôture dans la cour de récréation, qui cite Kerouac, se fait un plaisir de te partager sa clope, mais n’hésitera pas à te donner une rose au bal des finissants. Disponible en téléchargement à contribution volontaire et sur support de plastique mince et réjouissant. - BRBR


Discography

Nap Eyes - EP, 2011
Four More Songs By: - EP, 2012
Tribal Thoughts - long song, 2012

Whine Of The Mystic - LP - March 2014


Photos

Bio

Nap Eyes formed during the summer of 2010 when Nigel Chapman, Seamus Dalton (Monomyth, Bird World), and Josh Salter (Monomyth, Quivers) began jamming at Seamus' house on Maynard St in Halifax. A few weeks later they played their first show on the roof to twenty odd people. After a few recording sessions with Mike Wright (Each Other), Nap Eyes were joined by lead guitarist Brad Loughead (Each Other). They recorded their first eponymous EP (released 2011) which received attention locally as well as on the odd blog (Said the Gramophone), as well inclusion on Pigeon Row Media's sampler Your Samples, Our Obsession, named after one of Nap Eyes' songs. A second EP, Four More Songs By:, was released in 2012.

When Brad and Mike moved to Montreal the original three continued playing shows and home recording, with Brad re-joining whenever he was in town.

Quietly creating a dedicated fan-base within their own city Nap Eyes played a very well-recieved set on the main stage at Sappyfest 2012 in Sackville, New Brunswick.

In the Summer of 2013, they embarked on their first cross-Canada tour, along with Monomyth, making their way to BC.

On March 25th of this year, Nap Eyes first LP, Whine of the Mystic, was released by the newly formed Montreal label, Plastic Factory Records. The album was printed as a short run on vinyl, and is available online at napeyes.bandcamp.com and plasticfactoryrecords.bandcamp.com

They completed a second tour with Monomyth in March/April of this year, in support of Whine of the Mystic, this time concentrating on dates in Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick.

The album has been well received, charting for a number of weeks in the Earshot Top 20, which tracks and ranks airplay on college radio stations across Canada.

In May 2014, Nap Eyes will play the Obey Convention in Halifax, and soon after, will begin recording songs for a second album to be released towards the end of this year.


Band Members