After two years of living in this new reality, people are spending a lot of time in a state of reflection on the past and on who they want to be in the future. This is a predominate theme on No Shadow, the new LP from Illinois indie band Nectar, released May 13 via Lauren Records.
“It feels like a very pivotal moment for myself, and a lot of people that causes a lot of reflection on the way things used to be and how you want things to be moving forward. So, within that change and growth, there’s loss as well,” says Nectar vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Kamila Glowacki.
“I wanted to explore those feelings of lamenting over all these different versions of your life that have happened or the lives that you won’t live.”
A visual artist as well, Glowacki put oil to canvas to create No Shadow‘s album cover, which also ties in with the themes on the record to create one unified piece of art. “I found the process to be an extension of the recording process because oil painting—It can be a very slow, meticulous process. And I wanted to have that same kind of time to dive into introspection and reflection through the visual art making process as well as the recording process, and oil painting felt like a really good (way) to do that,” she says.
“The art was designed to make fans who buy a physical copy of No Shadow feel like they’re holding a copy of the original canvas. “With the actual physical record, the back of it is the back of the canvas as well. So, the actual record album artwork is kind of like an optical illusion of sorts, where you can kind of feel like you’re holding the actual painting,” Glowacki says.
The album cover and the lyrical content of the record connect with each other quite well, using a mirror as a symbol of the state of reflection many of us find ourselves in. “In all sorts of stories and media, there’s mirrors that reflect your desires,” Glowacki explains. “And I feel like a mirror can also be a confrontation with yourself. A lot of the record is reflecting on having isolation and time and just sort of reflecting that back on myself and learning about myself in that process. And I feel like a mirror was a pretty natural symbol for that.”
Stay tuned for tour announcements and more from Nectar in the coming months.
Watch the video for “Scab” here:
For more from Nectar, find them on Instagram and Twitter.
Photo courtesy of Lauren Records
