"‘Is This Offensive And Loud?’ is my debut record. I wrote it after leaving my full-time job and travelling through North America for a while. The songs have come out of late night walks, long drives to unknown destinations and being snowed in in basement apartments. I got a lot out of writing this album, and hope you find something in it for yourself too." - Nat Vazer
Having been a songwriter for the better part of my life, I can say from personal experience that there are trappings in writing records, and nearly all of them born from both personal and commercial expectations. These are small deaths - partially sewn by others, partially sewn by ourselves, and always grown in the chaos of the mind. We end up perceiving that there are trappings in staying too on-theme, in playing it safe, in rebelling against the notion of ‘safety,’ in diverting from your chosen genre(s), in NOT diverting from your chosen genre(s). In essence, at the core of this kind of creativity it can feel like everything is an ambush, and when this occurs the art suffers from a lack of truth, or a lack of staying true.
Nat Vazer has none of these problems.
For those who may not know (I’m pretty confident you will soon enough), Nat Vazer is a singer-songwriter from Melbourne, Australia. A classically trained pianist who routinely played in punk bands; her beginnings in performance and writing were at their core unique, dichotomous, and thrilling. All of these elements bloom on Vazer’s debut album “Is This Offensive And Loud?”, a guitar-driven, dreamy landscape that is currently available digitally and through a special cassette release by Perpetual Doom.
“Is This Offensive And Loud” is a beautifully crafted arc of songs, weaving a unique tapestry of feminist themes, immersive storytelling, ethereal vocals, and classic punk defiance. Vazer’s whimsical melodic sensibility and lush timbre echo the best of other artists, creating a formidable wheelhouse of texture she draws from effortlessly. Offhand, the ear picks up a wide range of possible influences - from Mitski, Jenny Lewis, and Phoebe Bridgers to Aimee Mann, Nirvana, and The Pixies. However, nothing is as unique on this album as Vazer’s own storytelling voice, her version of the ultimate truth. Each song feels like a vignette, a snapshot of a moment in time illustrated on a visceral level, leaving the listener both imagining the narrative and humming the hook for hours after. This was indeed my own experience, and from this album I believe the lyrics of one song can summarize the warm blanket and gut punch that each of these songs represents. On “Like Demi,” I found myself pausing, rewinding, and playing again, especially for the following lyrics:
“And you know it’s true
You let the plants die on your balcony
Then afterwards
You tried to blame everything that went wrong on me
Used to cut my hair so short
Like Demi Moore in Ghost
But she was just somebody else
Who gave up long ago
I was not made for sitting still
For standing in line
For swallowing pills
Think I can think for myself
Are you asking me to dial it down?
Is this offensive and loud?
Is this offensive and loud?”
“Is This Offensive And Loud,” does something in 2020 that not many albums have been capable of doing - it cuts above the noise, writes a story in a smoke-filled sky, and waits patiently for the crowd, now hushed, to truly listen. I look forward to hearing more from Vazer in the future as she does what most of us hope to do - reflect thoughtfully on the past and present while fumbling brilliantly and hopefully toward a brighter future.
- Lee Moretti, BMN Contributor