Album Review: No Thank You – Jump Ship

No Thank You‘s Kaytee Della Monica has been involved in the Philadelphia music scene since she was 16, originally a founding members of Airports, she subsequently went on to pursue a visual arts degree, something that still resonates deeply within her musical endeavours. Last year she teamed up with Nick Holdorf, from In The Pines, and The Superweaks’ Evan Bernard to form a new project, one that became No Thank You, with the aim of making collected her ideas come to life. Jump Ship is their debut full length, that follows on from the 2016 EP, A Nu Start, and was released on the 24th Februray 2017 and is available via Lame-O Records.

Eyeballs opens Jump Ship with some mellow ethereal indie, that to my ears is reminiscent of The Cocteau Twins, that serves as a prelude before Cold kicks in with a slow deliberate fuzzy riff that kicks into a more playful element before exiting on a return to the fuzz. Old News starts with more strings and ethereal vocals that slowly build to a more strident riff before fading away, it isn’t until Serenity Song that Jump Ship gets properly into gear, this track boasts a gloriously overdriven riff that’s overlaid with keyboards and the ever present ethereal vocal style of Kaytee Della Monica. At the midway point the album returns to the mellow indie stylings that opened Jump Ship, before the lead single from the album, Juicy J, kicks in with the albums finest 90 seconds, a gloriously insistent drumbeat overlaid with a frantic guitar hook that makes you want to bounce round the room, Teeter and The Unbearable Purposelessness of Being end the album in fine style, keeping up the energy levels and building Jump Ship to a fine finale.

I can’t decide whether Jump Ship is a throwback to earlier times, or an album that’s ahead of the game, there’s a fair nod to their influences, quirky keyboards playfully sit amongst some fine intense guitar riffs, that in turn sit alongside moments of tenderness and subtlety. This is certainly one of the most idiosyncratic releases I’ve heard this year, you can pick up the influence of numerous bands from the 80’s on this album, but this is no anachronistic tribute to the indie scene from days gone by. Whilst the influences are many and varied No Thank You have carved out a unique debut album, that despite my initial misconceptions has slowly won me over, and as I play it once more I have the feeling I won’t be the only person that this trio have that effect upon.

You can order the ltd edition vinyl, available on black and splatter variants, of Jump Ship here

Jump Ship is available for download and streaming here