Chris DeLine

Seeing as how Fly or Die was what it was (a fairly poor album) Seeing Sounds should be considered a triumphant return for NERD…but…in reality it’s not too distant from its predecessor. Sporadic, over-reaching and inconsistent – Seeing Sounds is exactly what NERD should be distancing itself from. There are songs that make sense on the album, “Love Bomb” for instance, is guilty of being irritatingly sweet but it still sounds really damn good. Likewise, “Everybody Nose” is a banger worthy of its hype. On the whole, however, the album isn’t – it peaks and it crashes. I’m not sure that Pharrell Williams is comfortable, yet, with knowing what he’s good at when it comes to his own material and not as a producer of someone else’s craft. NER*D is an honest band in that they’re never shying away from music they feel, but they haven’t yet adopted music that is characteristic of their ability. With each album the band has focused on one or two songs that show up on the charts, relenting in the idea that there will be room to experiment because the focus isn’t on the remainder of the album. That being the case, at what point in time does the band decide to make an album worthy of their talents, not just an album that explains their willingness to explore? Unfortunately, with Seeing Sounds, it appears that now is not that time.

[This post was first published by Culture Bully.]