Nurse With Wound

Huffin Rag Blues (Jnana)
by Iann Robinson

Nurse With Wound is an easy “band” to review because if you like them, pretty much anything they put out will tickle your fancy. If you hate Nurse With Wound. whatever they do will sound like a giant waste of time. Huffin Rag Blues does nothing to change that reality, but since I’m a big Nurse With Wound fan I loved it.

This is a weird record, and when I say that, I don’t just mean it’s a little off or that there are some interesting things happening, no, no this is a truly bizarre album. Nothing here can be considered music in the traditional form, and, of course, that’s what makes it so brilliant. Nurse With Wound is able to elicit emotions and reactions through grouping together little noises, soundscapes, a few vocals, and a general cacophony of sound. I don’t mean it’s all ugly or grating the way “noise” music is usually thought of, because Huffin Bag Blues is a very mellow record. Creepy and bizarre, but still mellow. When I say a cacophony of sound, I mean just that. This is all random sounds brought together to create something much more than the sum of its parts. What I dig about Huffin Bag Blues besides its creativity is how scary it is. Rarely does a record invoke fear in me, but this album fucking scared me. Try listening to the track “All Of Me” alone in the dark and see how you do. Perhaps you won’t be utterly creeped out when the base of a song is actually a baby crying, but I was. Nurse With Wound are the real deal, a musical entity that does exactly what it wants to do and has never served up anything but sheer brilliance.
(www.jnanarecords.com)