NASH - BLACK SUIT, WHITE SUIT EP

Nash is probably best known for his work with Electric Six.  For those of you who don't know Johnny Na$hinal... he's also known as the White Wolf.  He's lead guitarist and this is his solo project.  It's a self release and you won't find it in stores.  You can, however, order it through bandcamp or pick it up at a show he's playing.

Let me first say, I sometimes have a hard time being objective when it comes to Electric Six and some of the side projects band members are involved in.  I love the music they release and because of that, I tend to lump the side project material in with their main body of work.

That being said, I like most of what I hear on this disc.  But I do find a couple of things distracting.  The tempo can be a bit slow.  I want it to speed up.  Especially on 'The Sound Of Ghosts'.  My other complaint is the echo on the vocals.  In my experience, overuse of the echo effect is because the vocalist doesn't feel confident.  That may be the reason for it here.  Too often, Nash's voice is completely lost in the mix.  He sounds so far away, it's hard to connect to the music. 

'Children Of Doom' is an interesting tune.  It starts off with a deep bass guitar motif that reminds me of 'Dance-A-Thon 2005'.  It's also interesting to note the inclusion of lyrics such as "Saturday" and "Knife Fight" which have all recently also appeared on music released by E6 bandmate, Christopher Tait on his side project, Belle Ghoul.  He sings the song with a breathy vocal and the echo effect is there.  With the deeper tones, a faster speed would give the song some energy.  However, those deeper tones also make you instinctively slow things down.  Minor chords and sounds often do.  

'Phone It In' is next and this track is pure bliss.  It starts off sounding like some Spanish guitar playing and it transitions into a conglomerate of sound mixing live and programmed drum sounds together along with some excellent mixing of guitar sound.  'The Sound Of Ghosts' is both lyrically and musically a great idea from start to finish.  The vocal arrangement and timing is similar to the lyrics of E6's 'Waste Of Time And Money'.  

'Mindy Kisses Stars' has a great beat, nice music...  It's followed by 'Black Suit, White Suit'.  Once again, you get some Spanish guitar up front.  Very acoustic and reminiscent of something you'd hear from early Adam And The Ants.  I actually like this number quite a bit.  It's got a lot of character and feel.  Next up is 'Good Times' and this is by far the best song on the disc.  This is one I'll be including on playlists for awhile from now on.  It's got a marvelous blend of synth sounds, guitars and drum tracks.  I can't praise this one enough.

The final track is 'Love Design'.  It starts off sounding like an early 80's new wave number.  I hear The Cars...  And finally, we hear Nash's voice without too much echo effect.  The vocal arrangement leaves a lot of room for animated punctuation, but Nash pulls his punches.  He seems almost embarrassed to animate his vocals.  He's hesitant, but that's not unusual.  It's not always easy to transition from singing backup to being the front man.  I really like this EP and I like what Nash is doing.  All of the reasons he's one of the main songwriters for Electric Six are here.  He's got great ideas, excellent timing musically and he comes up with some amazing melodies.  The tunes are fun and enjoyable to listen to.  I actually listen to this disc a lot while I'm driving.  

I want to hear more!  It would be interesting to see if Nash decides to put a full length project together.  The material is there...  The songwriting is there...  The musicianship is there...  Do it!

My final words:  A SOMETIMES WHISPY, BUT MOSTLY STRONG MUSICAL FORAY LEAVING ONE HUNGRY FOR MORE!  PLEASE, NASH, CAN WE HAVE SOME MORE???

NASH - BLACK SUIT, WHITE SUIT EP
01. Children Of Doom
02. Phone It In
03. The Sound Of Ghosts
04. Mindy Kisses Stars
05. Black Suit, White Suit
06. Good Times
07. Love Design