U.K. buzz band Nine Black Alps will release its debut album, “Everything Is,” Feb. 28 in North America via Interscope. The 12-track set was produced by Rob Schnapf (Beck, Guided By Voices) and issued in England this fall. The album has already spawned five U.K. singles, including “Cosmopolitan” and “Unsatisfied.”
Nirvana comparisons have been affixed to the band since its 2004 emergence, and the influence of the Seattle rock trio is hard to miss on vein-bulging tracks like “Ironside” and “Not Everyone.” The version of “Cosmopolitan” included here packs even more of a punch than the one included on Nine Black Alps’ self-titled U.S. EP, issued this summer.
Elsewhere, the group stretches out with acoustic guitars on “Behind Your Eyes,” trades in Buzzcocks-like pop/punk on “Headlights” and turns introspective on “Intermission,” which is little more than frontman Sam Forrest’s home demo recorded the day Iraqi citizens tore down the iconic Saddam Hussein statue in the center of Bagdhad.
After a show tonight (Dec. 14) in London, Nine Black Alps will be off the road until Feb. 9, when a two-week U.K./Ireland trek kicks off in Belfast.
