JAM THE TRACKS WHILE YOU READ
"GREAT ADD YOU SAUCY MINX" - BEN
BILLY NOMATES
CACTI
JUNE 20TH, 2023
Multi-instrumentalist Tor Maries has a stage name: Billy Nomates. She has a sophomore album, Cacti. And once again it’s released on Geoff Barrow’s [Portishead] Invada Records. But where her debut played it safe in the talk-sing stylings of Sleaford Mods, here she finds her voice and lets the melody and grooves lay beneath a confident vocal delivery. The album starts with early goth guitars, subtle Gary Numanesque synths, and cold wave drums that remind one of Pornography era Cure. And while Billy might opine on the opening track that her balance is gone, across these dozen tracks she definitely gets the balance right.
And that balance is illustrated in album highlight, “Blue Bones (Deathwish)”. This track is like a Jenny Lewis/Rósín Murphy mashup. And I’m here for it. It’s lyrically bold and catchy as a cold in December. There is a certain barrenness being evoked throughout this album, but just like a desert, at any moment life may bloom, colors explode, waters run. The title track, “Cacti”, is a lovely little synthpop tune. But where “Cacti” is more representative of the dark sci-fi Roswell of the American southwest, “Fawner” is an atmospheric acoustic number that evokes the inside of a dusty Arizona diner. Yeah, she’s a Brit. I’m not. I’m projecting American geography here.
In “Saboteur Forcefield'' Billy sings: “I know that nothing's quite right / It's just your instinct to fight.” But in truth things are actually ok. How many of us have had our hands on the self-destruct button? Our own worst enemies. Self-saboteurs. When “Spite” cues up Billy’s channeling an angry Chrissy Hynde atop a Rick Springfield 80s hook. Even Swifties should take note when Billy sings: “Little boy…Don't you act like I ain't the fucking man.” This album is expansive and shows extreme artistic growth. Despite the praise of her debut, Cacti far surpasses that first solid work.
- TRENT RYAN SMITH