{"id":11764,"date":"2020-04-11T11:22:59","date_gmt":"2020-04-11T16:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/?p=11764"},"modified":"2026-05-06T15:16:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T20:16:45","slug":"album-review-alex-nicol-all-for-nada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2020\/04\/11\/album-review-alex-nicol-all-for-nada\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review :: Alex Nicol :: All for Nada"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Copy-of-Alex-Nicol-All-for-Nada-Album-Art-3000x3000px-V2-1024x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11765\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Copy-of-Alex-Nicol-All-for-Nada-Album-Art-3000x3000px-V2-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Copy-of-Alex-Nicol-All-for-Nada-Album-Art-3000x3000px-V2-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Copy-of-Alex-Nicol-All-for-Nada-Album-Art-3000x3000px-V2-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Copy-of-Alex-Nicol-All-for-Nada-Album-Art-3000x3000px-V2-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Copy-of-Alex-Nicol-All-for-Nada-Album-Art-3000x3000px-V2-1536x1536.png 1536w, https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Copy-of-Alex-Nicol-All-for-Nada-Album-Art-3000x3000px-V2-2048x2048.png 2048w, https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Copy-of-Alex-Nicol-All-for-Nada-Album-Art-3000x3000px-V2-100x100.png 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>by Kaelen Bell<\/strong><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alex Nicol has described his solo debut as a sort of tribute to \u2014 and partnership with \u2014 his partner, visual artist Nada Temerinski. In an interview with <em>Cult MTL<\/em>, Nicol made clear that Temerinski\u2019s position is not that of the traditional muse, but of collaborator and unofficial producer \u2014 another creative energy in tandem with his own, influencing and interpreting his work in ways not traditionally recognized in the self-obsessed canon of male singer-songwriters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The album borne of this fruitful collaborative spirit, the aptly titled <em>All for Nada<\/em>, is an exploration of equitable relationships, of growing up and finding partnership. It\u2019s a languorous collection of songs that masks its sometimes-thorny subject matter in hazes of guitar, ponderous bass and washes of gold-toned synths.\u00a0<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nicol\u2019s lyrics are introspective and rarely settled \u2014 he asks questions often, contemplating the worlds both inside and around him. He spends equal time on the cosmic beauty of our universe and the 40-hour work week, dissolving the lines between the mundane and the mysterious. The same goes for love \u2013 on <em>All for Nada,<\/em> a relationship is both a comfortable daily ritual and a star-crossed search for something more.\u00a0<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The lounge-y atmosphere and Nicol\u2019s gentle vocal delivery make for a record with few sharp corners or textures. It\u2019s a quiet space, drenched in afternoon light and rich with subliminal markers of the everyday. It\u2019s difficult not to hear Temerinski in these songs. Most seem to be in conversation with or about her. She nearly becomes a second performer, her influence felt in almost every note \u2014 sounds made in the space shared by two people in love.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nicol has a knack for engaging lines like, \u201cI put my trust in the washing today,\u201d \u201cTake the bridge back to me,\u201d \u201cHome is now a construct,\u201d and his relatively dense lyrical content plays against the streamlined music, adding knots of complexity to these simply rendered songs. It\u2019s a pleasing record, and a gently glowing peek into the dynamic possibilities of partnership and of the hidden influence and direct power held by those we love. <br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Kaelen Bell Alex Nicol has described his solo debut as a sort of tribute to \u2014 and partnership with \u2014 his partner, visual artist Nada Temerinski. In an interview with Cult MTL, Nicol made clear that Temerinski\u2019s position is not that of the traditional muse, but of collaborator and unofficial producer \u2014 another creative [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11766,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11764\/revisions\/11766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}