‘Nickel On The Fountain Floor’ is the latest release from LA band Illuminati Hotties, whose last release, ‘Power’ was named by Rolling Stone as one of the top 100 albums of last year. Illuminati Hotties is the passion project of producer Sarah Tudzin, who describes her approach as “tenderpunk”. That label fits well with the five songs on display in ‘Nickel On The Fountain Floor’, ranging from more upbeat punk fare to lo-fi acoustic and electronic numbers.
Lead single ‘777’ is the song where all of these tendencies coalesce. Softly fuzzed guitars, dreamy vocals that float over the song, caught by the shifts in dynamics as though riding a breeze, all against a backdrop of reversed feedback that cushions the guitars throughout. Tender is right – the whole sonic experience is designed to be softened at every edge.
A lot of this cushioning is jettisoned for ‘Wreck My Life’, the EP’s second single. Written alongside PUP’s Stefan Babcock, this is a far punchier, punkier duet between Tudzin and Babcock. Even then, there is still a softening at play here. The second verse switches staccato guitar stabs for chugging, and the second chorus delicately layers vocal harmonies up. It’s clear that ‘Wreck My Life’ has greatly benefited from this collaboration between two punk songwriters with over a decade of experience – this is expertly crafted, catchy, poppy punk.
‘Nickel On The Fountain Floor’ takes a turn after this into ‘Bright Sun’ – ironically the darkest track here, and the one which lends the EP its name. This is all tender, no punk. Instruments are subdued, almost submerged. Electronic strings thrum at the edges. Tudzin’s voice sporadically takes on a vocoder effect. It’s slow, haunting.
There’s a similarity in ‘Hollow’, which follows ‘Bright Sun’. Led by an acoustic guitar, this is another song that is in no rush. A drum machine pulses underneath strums and arpeggiated synths and, of course, Tudzin’s quiet singing. Her vocal rhythms are slanted in the chorus, which is then picked up by a lead guitar line in the back half of the song that Tudzin ends up following herself.
‘Skateboard Tattoo’ takes us out, a final return to a more fast-paced, punk style. It’s very skate punk, appropriately, very short, and yet retains the more tender elements that Illuminati Hotties have used throughout this EP. A lead guitar line played in half time, those vocals that are always deliberately gentle, mixed underneath the guitars here when the song demands the vocals themselves become harsher. We’re left with twenty seconds of drums, the chorus refrain being playfully sung low in the mix, a mere whisper of guitars.
That self-label of tenderpunk is clearly laid out across ‘Nickel On The Fountain Floor’ in all its variations. In fact, this EP feels like a manifesto for the sound as a whole; a showcase of a concept that spans across and unifies what otherwise could feel like a somewhat disparate release. Crucially, that sense of unification doesn’t actually require any knowledge of the tenderpunk label, as it is really achieved through a coherent, intentional writing and production style that seeds similarities and harmonious elements across all five songs here to create something full of difference that nonetheless hangs together very well.
WILL BRIGHT