The Spill Magazine The Spill Magazine
The Spill Magazine The Spill Magazine
The Spill Magazine The Spill Magazine
  • Reviews
    • Album Reviews
    • Features
    • Live Reviews
    • Festivals
  • Portraits
  • Headlines
    • News
    • Contests
    • Events
    • Entertainment Headlines
    • Concert Listings
    • Toronto Concert Venues
  • New Music
    • Premieres
    • Track Of The Day
  • Track Of The Week
  • Books + Movies
  • About
  • Reviews
    • Album Reviews
    • Features
    • Live Reviews
    • Festivals
  • Portraits
  • Headlines
    • News
    • Contests
    • Events
    • Entertainment Headlines
    • Concert Listings
    • Toronto Concert Venues
  • New Music
    • Premieres
    • Track Of The Day
  • Track Of The Week
  • Books + Movies
  • About
  • Spill Menu
    • Reviews
      • Album Reviews
      • Features
      • Live Reviews
      • Festivals
    • Portraits
    • Headlines
      • News
      • Contests
      • Events
      • Entertainment Headlines
      • Concert Listings
      • Toronto Concert Venues
    • New Music
      • Premieres
      • Track Of The Day
    • Track Of The Week
    • Books + Movies
    • About
Album Reviews
180
previous article
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: LOOPITY GOOFS - SECRET GEMS HIDDEN WEAPONS
next article
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: LIMBLIFTER - PACIFIC MILK

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: DOLDRUMS – THE AIR CONDITIONED NIGHTMARE

Doldrums
The Air Conditioned Nightmare
SubPop
RATING

The test of a great album isn’t necessarily that it blows you away at first listen. The true mark of a timeless record is that it grows on you steadily and gets better the more you play it, a very wise fellow music fanatic (my dad actually) once told me. The Air Conditioned Nightmare, Doldrums’ latest work, is such an album.

As a collection of songs, Nightmare is a cohesive body, yet there is a wide variety of emotion and sound from track to track. The theme holding the album together is the struggle to live an authentic life despite societal dysfunction.
Many of the songs – particularly “Video Hostage,” “Funeral for Lightning,” “Blow Away,” “Industry City,” and “HOTFOOT” – deal with the threat of our imploding, soulless society, and Doldrums’ frontman Airick Woodhead’s response is to go deeper inside himself to escape it all. The lyrics on “HOTFOOT” sum this sentiment up: “I’m sleeping in in the age of unrest … If I cant pull myself back up, I’m gonna go deeper down into the mud.”

Some songs seem to draw inspiration from post-Kid A-era Radiohead, especially “Funeral For Lightning,” with its apocalyptic lyrics and distorted harmony vocals. The Doldrums’ style is uniquely their own, though – Woodhead’s inimitable high-strung voice paired with groovy beats and poetically dense lyrics are distinct.

While searching for these universal truths, the album tries to navigate the realms of humanity and relationships. On “Loops,” Woodhead laments how a relationship tends to come up against the same obstacles repeatedly, as though on a broken record. The song is made all the more interesting by being built on musical loops, making the song’s title self-reflective. In a similar vein, “Closer 2 U” is self-evident in its title: it aches to understand and inhabit the space of a lover, while expressing yearning for the love you haven’t yet experienced.

But amid all the seriousness, Woodhead knows how to have fun. On “My Friend Simjen” he is downright funny, professing his love for a computer program akin to ScarJo’s Samantha in the film HER (albeit without the sexy female voice) and then “dumping” it, saying that he has to “disconnect” because he has found someone new. Then on “We Awake,” he defiantly tries to have fun via his own imagination despite the apocalypse: “I heard a song the other morning. It said there would be no tomorrow/but we have each other here/I don’t care” and then later he adds: “Remember to sing/I’m ready to start again.” And finally at the song’s closing, as though to conclude: “Let’s have fun.”

Woodhead digs deep on this second album, and the fruits of his labour over the past few years working under the moniker of Doldrums are blooming. A good thing, because his label is SubPop, which was once home to a little band called Nirvana. Here he has the opportunity to try to appeal to the mass audience, but he stays weird – the mark of a true artist.

– Andrea Pare

Item Reviewed

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: DOLDRUMS – THE AIR CONDITIONED NIGHTMARE

Author

Andrea Paré

Here's what we think...
Spill Rating
Fan Rating
Rate Here
New Criteria
10
—
8.0
Total Spill Rating
—
Total Fan Rating
You have rated this
Album Reviews
album reviewsdoldrumsthe air conditioned nightmare
album reviews, doldrums, the air conditioned nightmare
About the Author
Andrea Paré
Native Quebecer and freelance writer Andrea Paré first began using music as a drug in her teen years to escape the drab experience of growing up in the suburbs. Now as a full grown adult and living in Toronto, she has a healthier addiction to discovering new musical artists and watching as much live and local music in her adopted city as she can.
RELATED ARTICLES
album reviews
 
8.0
The Dreadnoughts
—

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: THE DREADNOUGHTS – ROLL AND GO

by Michelle Cooney on June 24, 2022
The Dreadnoughts Roll And Go Stomp Records The Dreadnoughts have been baptized with a variety of classifications, from “cluster folk” to “polka punk” to “ciderpunk”. Their new album, [...]
 
8.0
Dylan Moon

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: DYLAN MOON – OPTION EXPLORE

by Ljubinko Zivkovic on June 17, 2022
Dylan Moon Option Explore RVNG Intl. Anybody who had a chance to hear Dylan Moon’s initial album Only the Blues, from 2019 might be taken aback by what is in the grooves (or bits) [...]
 
8.0
1st Base Runner

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: 1st BASE RUNNER – LIGHT ROARS

by Ljubinko Zivkovic on June 13, 2022
1st Base Runner Light Roars Independent Tim Husmann, aka 1st Base Runner has been on a hot streak for a few years now with his brand of dark, electronic modern gothic-oriented sounds, [...]
 
8.0
The Dream Syndicate

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: THE DREAM SYNDICATE – ULTRAVIOLET BATTLE HYMNS AND TRUE CONFESSIONS

by Ljubinko Zivkovic on June 10, 2022
The Dream Syndicate Ultraviolet Battle Hymns And True Confessions Fire Records The Dream Syndicate came, dropped a few brilliant modern psych [...]
 
8.0
Wardruna

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: WARDRUNA – KVITRAVN – FIRST FLIGHT OF THE WHITE RAVEN

by Samantha Wu on June 10, 2022
Wardruna Kvitravn – First Flight Of The White Raven Music For Nations/Sony Music/Columbia Germany/Bynorse Einar Selvik is the storyteller and mastermind [...]

Latest Album Reviews
View All
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: THE DREADNOUGHTS – ROLL AND GO
8.0
—
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: DYLAN MOON – OPTION EXPLORE
8.0
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: 1st BASE RUNNER – LIGHT ROARS
8.0
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: THE DREAM SYNDICATE – ULTRAVIOLET BATTLE ...
8.0
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: WARDRUNA – KVITRAVN – FIRST FLIGHT ...
8.0

Tweets by @spillmagazine

SPILL MAGAZINE MENU
  • Home | The Spill Magazine
  • Premieres
  • Track Of The Week
  • Album Reviews
  • Books + Movies
  • Features
  • Live Reviews
  • Festivals
  • Portraits
  • News
  • Events
  • Entertainment Headlines
  • Concert Listings
  • Toronto Concert Venues
  • About Us
  • Contests
  • New Music
  • Spill Magazine Contributors
  • TOTD
  • Privacy Policy
  • The Scene Unseen
  • Newsletter

Copyright © 2022 | The Spill Magazine
All Rights Reserved.

TRENDING RIGHT NOW
   
 
SPILL FEATURE: CRUISE TO THE EDGE 2022 – THIS YEAR’S PROG CRUISE MAKES A LOT OF NOISE. A WHOLE LOT OF NOISE.
750
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: PRIMUS – CONSPIRANOID
594
 
SPILL FEATURE: DON’T YOU FEEL CLOSER? – A CONVERSATION WITH CY CURNIN OF THE FIXX
585
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: THE FIXX – EVERY FIVE SECONDS
472
 
SPILL NEWS: BARENAKED LADIES TO RELEASE LIVE TRACKS FROM SOLD-OUT ROYAL ALBERT HALL SHOW | DELUXE EDITION OF ‘DETOUR DE FORCE’ OUT JUNE 3
343
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: NAZARETH – SURVIVING THE LAW
340
 
SPILL VIDEO PREMIERE: LOST CAT – “L.O.S.T.”
329
 
SPILL LIVE REVIEW: NIGHTWISH w/ BEAST IN BLACK @ HISTORY, TORONTO
321
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: LUCIUS – SECOND NATURE
289
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: DOROTHY – GIFTS FROM THE HOLY GHOST
276
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: FANTASTIC NEGRITO – WHITE JESUS BLACK PROBLEMS
274
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: AVI KAPLAN – FLOATING ON A DREAM
272
 
SPILL LIVE REVIEW: KRAFTWERK @ MASSEY HALL, TORONTO
236
ENTERTAINMENT HEADLINES