Nearly three decades after emerging from suburban Chicago, nymb are bringing their complete catalog back to vinyl following an unexpected rediscovery by a new generation of listeners.
Chicago-area band nymb are digging into their past with a full catalog reissue arriving September 18 through Forge Again Records, collecting a body of work that helped place the group within the Midwest emo, indie rock and shoegaze landscape of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The reissue comes after nymb’s music began finding a younger audience online. Listeners have shared the band through TikTok, uploaded covers to YouTube and contacted both the group and label looking for physical copies of records that had long been difficult to find.
Formed in suburban Chicago, nymb were part of a fertile scene centered around venues including the Fireside Bowl. The band shared stages with acts including Rainer Maria and Jets to Brazil, while musicians from Braid, Cursive and Rise Against have since recalled nymb’s presence within that era. The lineup also included Elaine Bradley, who would later become the drummer for Neon Trees.
A newly assembled video for “Rope + Ring” provides a window into those years, piecing together archival footage of the band that includes a performance at the Fireside Bowl.
The September reissue divides nymb’s catalog into three releases. Cutting Teeth: 1997-1999 gathers early EPs, demos and seven-inches, while debut full-length So, This Is How It Is receives its first vinyl release alongside two additional songs originally issued as B-sides. The band’s rare, self-released final album Nothing New will also appear on vinyl for the first time.
The project arrives at a moment when younger listeners continue to trace the branches of Midwest emo and alternative rock back beyond the genre’s most familiar names. For nymb, that renewed curiosity has given music once rooted in a particular Chicago scene an unexpected second life.