Nrvs / Free (single)
As featured on Netflix series Too Much (written & directed by Lena Dunham), the mysterious outfit are back with Free – just a dumb song about heartbreak…
Photo: Hobbs Ginsberg
– Out Now | Impact Date 3rd Oct –
Genre: Post-Punk, Alternative
“Uncompromising, irreverent & unnerving punk 21st Century style with a dash of Syd Barrett Blur. ” Louder Than War
The ever-elusive Nrvs are back; this time with the emotive Free – a strikingly alternative lament about the existential experience of heartbreak, or as the band put it “Just another dumb song about love found & lost within the wreckage! It happens… what are you gonna do?”
A taste of what’s to come from their upcoming album produced by Luis Felber (Attawalpa) & Matt Allchin (Florence & The Machine, SOAK, Mark Ronson) at South London’s Off License studios, where Joy Crookes, Muck Spreader & Sleaze have all recorded, Free features as the closing track on episode 9 of this summer’s much loved Netflix series Too Much, written & directed by Lena Dunham.
Founding member Ten Pence is not shy about the fact that he spent time at His Majesty’s pleasure since their I Like You EP, for involvement in environmental activism – but insists Free is “not about that: it’s more that there are jails everywhere. We’re sort of all in jail all the time. Well, that’s what I learned in jail anyway.” As for the heartbreak, check the fabulous artwork by Hobbes Ginsberg.
A track that’s travelled much over the years, Free used to be played at grimy basement shows in then-unfashionable parts of London by an earlier incarnation of the band called Trojan Whores. “We were more punk rock then lol! There’s actually a pretty decent live recording of us playing Free from those days. It sounds sort of like a cool Echo And The Bunnymen tune”.
The band loved the song tho so they kept on playing it. However, it evolved faster than they could keep pace with laying it down – always preferring the latest live version over the one they’d just recorded. “And the heartbreaks kept coming too obvs”, mentions Ten Pence “so we’ve done more reboots of this song than fu*king Spiderman! Recording the album we’re like sod this, Free should be on here. So we finally & definitively reimagined it like Battlestar Galactica, adding a new section & recording a new version … then Free was reborn as a different song about a different heartbreak lol. Might release the Echo And The Bunnymen live version as a bonus track one of these days tho …”
Releasing since 2020, Nrvs have been consistent in their message & attitude. Their sci-fi take on society’s spiral down into a dystopian world on their I Like You EP incorporates striking visuals (supplied by videographer Grain Freeze & 3D artist Matt Bateman) & combines ideas of a homogeneous society on title track I Like You, the plight of left-field disruptors on Scum & a sense of collective existential doubt on The Sane. Seemingly described as “a nightmare-normal vision of the near future that you can dance to”, their music has enjoyed coverage in Louder Than War, Earmilk, Dork & Punktastic, as well as radio play from John Kennedy on Radio X, Steve Lamacq on BBC 6 Music, Jack Saunders on BBC Radio 1 & BBC Introducing. Ideologically Nrvs are confrontational, unapologetic, existentially on the edge & uncompromising in their beliefs – all of which is reflected in their creative output, whether it’s music, visuals or their involvement in Extinction Rebellion & similar protests against the status quo.
Many artists have been shrouded in mystery: the music & the visuals should strike you first, whether you’re ready for them or not. With an album on its way, Nrvs aim to spell out the writing that they feel is already on the wall! The story continues…
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