Nothing – a short history of decay

Shoegaze, 2026. Resurgence. TikTok. Gen Z. Algorithm. A thousand upheld phones in a soulless arena pointed at… My Bloody Valentine. If you’d die for this kind of music, you surely know the drill by now. Where does a band like Nothing fit into all of that? The genre’s middle class, not close to the upper echelons of the 90s forebears but possessing an earned respect, forebears themselves to the hundreds of young bands cranking the distortion pedal in the 2020s.

The band’s fifth record finds Nicky Palermo, the centre of Nothing, in a contemplative mood. Nothing historically lean into the muscular and dare to stare into the abyss. a short history of decay engages with the horrors of the past (violence, addiction) and the present and future (aging, health). The title track’s tumbling, spiralling energy colours Palermo’s been-there-done-that honesty: 'If there’s one less thing I need, it’s some life lesson… / I’ve been here over and over again'.

cannibal world’s breakbeats, a not unfamiliar sound for Nothing, brings them into the lineage of the bands – TAGABOW, forever ☆ – doing this well (better, even) now. However, the record cocoons into the kind of soft strummed ballads that a young Neil Halstead would write about pain and heartbreak in a Welsh cottage. In the end, Nothing has not sounded this much like a solo project in some time.

Listen to: cannibal world, a short history of decay, toothless coal