Nomen Novum

Much like how Merriweather Post Pavilion has set the bar very high for 2009 albums on a nationwide level, Nomen Novum’s debut full-length, November, may very well end up being the best album to come out of Atlanta this year. For those of you who are not in the know, Nomen Novum is currently made up of two thirds of the now defunct Moorish Idols. The only official record that Moorish Idols released during their tenure was a self-titled EP. That album was our favourite EP from 2007, and I really can’t recommend it enough.

The brainchild of both bands, David Norbery, disbanded Moorish Idols and decided to start over fresh to better express his vision. He focused his attention on his solo project called Nomen Novum, which is literally Latin for “New Name”. I was honestly a bit skeptical at first about the change of direction because I loved the old incarnation so much, but I underestimated one of Atlanta’s best sonic artists. November is a matured, less restrained effort than Moorish Idols, and manages to expand on all of the magic and brilliance that made me a fan in the first place.

What is also interesting about the album is that it is actually a bit of a relic in relation to where Nomen Novum is musically right now. Over the course of last year, the project went from being a full band, to a solo act, to finally a duo comprised of Norbery and fellow Moorish Idols veteran Mark Godfrey. For the better part of last year, Nomen Novum abandoned the guitar driven approach found on November and moved in a loop based direction. At the beginning of this year, the two gathered a small group of close friends in an empty room and recorded the performance. The resulting EP is called Room For Rent and was released for free digitally around the same time they released November. The two releases are almost polar opposite sorts of records. As the band travels farther and farther away from their Moorish Idols roots, there is something truly astonishing about an artist that can continue to redefine themselves and the resulting art continue to be consistently excellent.

Posted by Davy Minor on February 13, 2009 at 6:04 am

www.ohmpark.com - Ohmpark.com

Exceedingly pleasant Atlanta group with a basic jangle-pop operational basis, with some nice light psych volk touches that sound classicist rather than 'New Weird America' in their orientation" - Byron Coley, WIRE - WIRE

Jolting and careening every which way, buzzing with caffeine and quirks, layered with nutty instruments and spazzy tempos, Atlanta outfit Nomen Novum somehow keeps its oddball pop inside the net over the course of its new CD November's 11 tracks. It's sorta reminiscent of XTC, if only superficially. David Norbery and Mark Godfrey are the nerds behind the noise.

- Jeff Clark, April 09 - Stomp And Stammer

something that was received via a friend request and caught our ear, based in Atlanta Nomen Novum are duo David Norbury and Mark Godfrey have released a handful of tasty looking though ridiculously limited CD and cassette releases via the Operation Get Jacked imprint one of which that is high on our wants list being a tape concealed in a hand sewn durian pouch designed and crafted by Leigh Cooper while over the next few months several works in the pipeline will at least see one split outing with Scenic World via the esteemed and much loved Scotch Tapes empire. Adorned with the tagline ‘diegetic pop’ - which apparently according to a handy online dictionary which we happened upon means a ‘recital’ or ‘narrative’ - mmm still shed no light - right?! It seems Nomen Novum are determined not to get easily brushed off under some generic umbrella whilst filing their sound under ‘experimental / minimalist / rock’ it becomes quite clear from start that the direction they take depends purely on which way the wind of their whim is blowing, seven tracks feature here with none happily sounding remotely like the other so that via ‘hand me downs’ you’re treated to a glowing slice of shimmying buzz-sawed lo-fi power pop whose roots appear to be culled from bloodlines distilled from elements of the Raspberries and the pub rock groove of Dr Feelgood, ‘Aunt Urn’ on the other hand could easily pass for some wickedly overlooked nugget from They Might be Giants while ‘dissolver’ perhaps the most abstract and by far the best cut of the set is possessed of a sly handed funkiness borne out of psychotropic ethnic mantras and harmonic rhythms braided across tribal tablatures much recalling if I’m honest a strange would be fusion of a youthful Talking Heads and a mid career Animal Collective. Admirers of interstellar ambient mirages previously countered by the likes of Metrotone et al will do well to seek out the lilting lullaby-esque ‘paradise 3’ which I swear we have heard and mentioned in previous dispatches but maybe its our age and ears playing tricks again. Essential listening I’m afraid chaps and chapesses.

- Losing Today