Taking their name from a Weakerthans song, New Jersey’s Night Windows sits at the crossroads of 90s alt-rock and mid-00s indie. Their sound is a compelling alchemy: the gravelly ponderance of Pedro the Lion, buffed to the radio-friendly sheen of Only by the Night-era Kings of Leon. Following a grinding year spent in support of their 2024 LP In Memories, the band emerged from that fertile isolation with Nonsense, an intimate EP that leans into themes of displacement and solitude with polished production, rich instrumentation, and a heavy dose of longing. The result is an ambitious collection of melancholia—the soundtrack of an apartment whose walls are slowly closing in.
Nonsense opens with “Your Phone Call,” a tender, heartfelt study of long-distance longing in which a phone call serves as a physical setting, elevated to the status of a sanctuary. Next up is “Baseball Cards,” which pivots into a sort of downtempo pointillism, swapping the opener’s linear narrative for a flickering collage of evocative imagery. “Boring You to Death” closes out Nonsense on a high note with an anthemic display of existential ups and downs. The pacing of the EP is cohesive, with energy skillfully controlled throughout the journey. “Baseball Cards” is a well-earned breather, allowing the listener a moment of calm reflection before the closing track ups the ante.
A soundscape of expansive instrumentation anchors Nonsense within a specific mood. The guitars shimmer with purpose, and the rhythm section delivers on every track, particularly the thick, melodic bass groove in “Boring You to Death.” Poignant lyrics like “Keep quiet all the loud parts of your mind” and “Living in the phone call and missing you” float to the forefront of these songs and linger long after they end—hallmarks of a promising songwriting talent.
But for all its polish, Nonsense occasionally struggles to impart the depth of emotions found within the lyrics. In the chorus of “Baseball Cards,” an obtuse line about forgetting your firstborn child comes across as a jarring change of topic, if not an outright non sequitur. It leaves the impression of a song hiding behind its own metaphors, more confusing than coy. Similarly, while “Boring You to Death” builds tension with the dexterity of a Killers barnburner, the payoff fails to justify the extended runtime—a crescendo searching for a catharsis it hasn’t quite earned.
Yet, even when Night Windows overreaches, they do so with an earnest sophistication. There’s a lot to like in Nonsense, enough to make Night Windows a band to keep a close eye on. Fans of the golden era of indie rock will find a rich, if slightly guarded, home here.
Listen to the EP below:
Written by John Bagatta
