Sweet Jubilee by Nanook Of The North (Single)

On ‘Sweet Jubilee’, the frostily named Bristol group Nanook Of The North meld together ambling indie-rock melodies and post-rock atmospherics

ristol-based alt group Nanook Of The North take their name from an acclaimed 1920s Canadian silent film. So, with the documentary exploring ‘Life and Love In the Actual Arctic’, you may expect their music to be full of chill and solemnity.

It is then no surprise that they open Sweet Jubilie with the sort of aural textures that have made Sigur Rós not just Iceland’s finest band, but the leaders at turning sound into frost-beaten clouds. Here, though, the wind melts. A watery riff creeps out and melds together the indie-rock of Death Cab For Cutie and the emo approach of Owls.

Though their employment of three vocalists allows for some gorgeous harmonising, Nanook are unafraid to let the vocals take an occasional background seat. It’s here that their appreciation for the Kinsella brothers radiates, as their mixture of ambling guitar melodies and porous rhythms has you swooning in a poignant trance.

Sweet Jubilee does feel a little as though it misses an atmospheric trick. It builds expectantly, before falling away at the point that crescendo and catharsis should meet. Where artists such as Blue Neck and Explosions In The Sky build layers of ambience into a climactic sprawl, Nanook fade without the release.

After just two years in existence, Nanook Of The North have taken their sound to an level of admirable maturity in a modest amount of time. Sweet Jubilee treats the hallmarks of their post- and indie-rock influences favourably and has enough of its own identity to mark the band out as ones to watch.

Verdict: Swooning post-rock meets indie-rock

Damien Girling

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