Nevermind - New Waves

Remember t.A.T.u? The faux lesbian pop band from Russia who conquered the UK charts in 2002/3 with hit singles All The Things She Said and Not Gonna Get Us, covered The Smiths, then courted further controversy by both going fully topless and showing a pregnant Yulia being shot dead in the video for Beliy Plachi? Or maybe you remember them from just a few days ago as they were one of the acts chosen to warm up the chilly crowds in Sochi before the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic games?  Well, today we’re introducing a UK pop group that may not be quite as controversial as t.A.T.u but there’s a semblance of similarity in some of their songs, not necessarily in the sound, but the atmosphere they create. 

For Nevermind (a band who despite the name seem to have very little to do with Nirvana) create the same sort of troubled pop with dark synths and brilliant big crashing drums, but with a lighter vocal touch, like t.A.T.u did at their best. Want a more modern reference point? Ok, add in Kyla La Grange’s recent single Cut Your Teeth or New Zealand’s Broods who both share a similar space.

Nevermind are a four piece pop group who consist of Megan-Lilly, Coco LLoyd, Rio Hellyer and Lexi Clark. Their Facebook has one of those long wordy blurbs that manages to say very little. “Piecing together Nevermind was what we have described as the veins of fate,” is one typical sentence. We’re not sure exactly what that means but we’d hazard a guess that it involves a certain amount of music industry manufacture, but they don’t really want to tell us that. Not that we have anything against manufactured bands – when push comes to shove very few artists who achieve any level of commercial success are 100% autonomous - but if you recognise the name Coco Lloyd the chances are it’s because in her younger years she was a topless model (so she’s keeping up with t.A.T.u on that one) and was also a member of X-Factor flops Kandy Rain. Likewise drummer Lexi Clark has a musical past, in the rock group Hearts Under Fire.

But let’s not judge Nevermind on their past or how they may have been brought together. After all Girls Aloud are one of our favourite pop bands of the last decade and they didn’t spend their formative years slogging round the cider stained indie venue circuit did they?

Let’s instead focus on the music.

Nevermind’s debut EP Wide Eyed (which you can hear here) features dark  power-pop in tracks like Drinking Alone (with a ‘voices in my head’ chorus that brings those hit ‘em hard drums to the fore), sweeping fists in the air t.A.T.u dramatics and sexiness in the form of Get Wrong and a gentle piano ballad (which doesn't really hit our spot) in closing track Heaven. Then there’s our favourite song, 2 Lines, which has an arty black and white video (below) and a electronic rock pop structure which (once again) has big big drums that sound like they’ll soundtrack every air drumming session we’ll ever have until someone puts on Phil Collins tune In The Air Tonight. 

Throw off your mental chains, forget the past and listen to Nevermind.

Nevermind - Get Wrong



Nevermind - 2 Lines (Video)