Nowhere (studio album) by Ride

From DJFresh-Rock 12/29/2024 03:40

Back when shoegaze was just finding its feet, Ride were flying the flag for this new genre. Not quite as groundbreaking as what would come a year or so later, but a great effort by this band to discover a sound they were comfortable with.

From Strangel 03/18/2024 08:01

I moved to England with a girlfriend in 1999. We ended up living in Oxford. Her favourite band was Ride. Mine was Radiohead. Coincidentally both bands formed in Oxford around the same time in the 80s before becoming seminal 90s alt rock bands. While I liked what I had heard of Ride at the time it wasn’t until we broke up that I found the time to fully immerse myself in this album and boy was I taken by it! It’s superb and I wish we’d had the chance to bask in its glory together more than we did. My bad!

Not always a fan of shoegaze but this is one of the better albums of the genre. There are times where I find the instrumental noise a bit grating, eg. on Dreams Burn Down, where most of the song is great but there's a phase of it where the background guitar is a bit too much for me. In A Different Place and especially Vapour Trail are excellent.

Phenomenal album, especially instrumentally, but lyrics play a huge role in its vibe too. Vocals are the weakest point, but they're still good, so I can't complain. All 8 tracks sound amazing and are varied in sound while remaining very shoegazy. My favorites are opening Seagull, peaceful In A Different Place, Dreams Burn Down with powerful mid section, very dark Decay followed by excellent Paralysed and amazing Vapour Trail with best sounding vocals and beautiful violins by the end. Ending album in perfect way.

What a sensational piece of music this record is. It is such a beautiful listen right from the start all the way up to the phenomenal ending on Vapour Trail. The instrumentation does a great job at creating an atmosphere through its hazy and dream like style. The standard of performing is extremely high as well all across the group with each of them shining in different moments. For example, the drum work on Paralysed is a huge factor in my love for the song as it is so expressive on this cut. Then there is the guitars which shine basically the whole way through and deserve a lot of praise for how great they are. Furthermore, there is the vocal performance which works perfectly for me and is one of my favourite vocal displays on any album in this genre. It just suits the music perfectly and brings the whole record together. Finally, I have to give a special mention to Polar Bear which is phenomenal and is swiftly becoming one of my favourite songs. Overall, this is an intelligent and complex album that is dreamy and atmospheric and is not only one of the greatest albums in its genre but one of the greatest albums of all time.

The guitars, drums, and song construction is superb. Ear pleasing, shoegazing waves of sound throughout the record.

Where this album loses me, a bit, is in the vocals. Neither Gardener nor Bell have a full enough voice to match the wall of guitars and drums. Also, the harmonies are too close to one another to be effective, in my opinion.

From Jboy56 02/25/2022 13:29

All the bands of this era sound all the same.. I do not get it why do people seriously think that noise is fine?
Best and most accessible track: Vapour Trail

From VictorVale 04/13/2021 21:27

Elementos de sua música são reconhecidos em todo movimento indie!

Lo mejor que te puede pasar es cruzarte con alguna canción de Nowhere en los recomendados de Youtube | *****

From teague 06/20/2020 00:55

Nowhere is absolutely beautiful. The production is so great and the instrumentation is so lush and smooth. I love the song In a Different Place and Vapour Trail is an amazing song.