Los Angeles punk band Agender amp up the angst and biting conviction with their new single “No Nostalgia.” The new tune is the third single — following “Preach” and “Astro Tarot” off the band’s newly announced upcoming album of the same title, out Feb. 24. Being the title track, “No Nostalgia” barrels into you with force and gravity, striking hard musically, visually and philosophically.
Telling a distinct story, the song paints a picture of a post apocalyptic world devoid of human existence. Without the chaos created by humans, the world and other beings can just pass through without anxiety or constraint.
Delving into the philosophy of memory, lead singer Romy Hoffman describes an in between zone where one pauses all past and future worries to just be. Combining a rigorous philosophical subject with a tightly wound ball of instrumental energy and a cryptic music video, the song is a visceral declaration to step outside of the human construct so as not to make the same mistakes or feel pain from the past.
“The song imagines a world devoid of memory, where nothing exists anymore- the dust of semiotics and signs are what remains,” said lead singer of Agender, Romy Hoffman. “There are no memoirs because there are no people. It’s a yearning for amnesia. Human beings are usually either looking back at the past or are worrying about the future. The oscillation between these tenses is what creates anxiety. “No Nostalgia” is a peaceful place of no anxiety, of evaporated earth and emptiness, of erased arousal, of no desire. There is no more danger because nothing exists. The song doesn’t say what caused this, but it’s post-human Earth about to rejuvenate itself from the vestiges and damages of Human existence.”
The music video for “No Nostalgia” is Hoffman’s first ever self produced music video. Shot as a short video essay, it sequences through filmed and found footage, establishing an abstract collage and representation of human memory including themes such as nostalgia and amnesia.
“This type of method/genre is the only thing that felt right to bring to life this song about memory and nostalgia,” notes Hoffman. “It made sense to make a collage of memories, rather than to form a narrative.”
No nostalgia, produced by David Scott Stone (LCD Soundsystem, Unwound), mixed by Sean Cook (St. Vincent, Angel Olsen) mixed, and mastered by Bob Weston (Shellac), is Agender’s second studio album. It was written in the fall of 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic, and recorded partly in 2019 and 2020 after the band could safely record again.
Agender is Australian native Hoffman, bassist Christy Michel, drummer Christy Greenwood and synth player Sara Rivas. In addition to their upcoming album, the band will be playing a show at the Zebulon on Dec. 1 in Los Angeles.
Words: Patti Sanchez
For more on Agender, visit their website and follow them on Instagram and Twitter.
