By Emily DiAlbert, Contributor
[Danger Collective; 2018]
Rating: 8.5/10

Key Tracks: “Become the Warm Jets”, “A Different Age”, “My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days”

Picture lying on the couch next to the one you love on a sleepy, rainy afternoon in spring. You aren’t doing much — simply enjoying the comforting presence of the other. Everything feels safe and secure. Life is okay.

Loving and being loved are the epitome of the human existence. There’s something about the familiar, warm feeling that makes you feel as if the world is complete. When music can evoke the same feeling, it’s something more than special. Nick Rattigan of Current Joys did just that with his latest tantalizing visual album, A Different Age. Rattigan expresses a new form of vulnerability, performing songs — each one more powerful than the one before it — in accompanied videos. The videos for certain tracks tell different stories of young lovers and are capable of evoking all types of nostalgia. The songs define realness and how to feel with every emotion. Not to mention Rattigan’s extremely powerful and vulnerable voice, which delivers each track even closer to home.

The album begins with “Become the Warm Jets”, which starts with slow, familiar-sounding bass strokes. Rattigan, in a powerful cry, belts the lyrics of one of the beautiful songs on the album. Its video starts with a man sitting next to his boyfriend, his arm wrapped around his boyfriend, who’s lighting a cigarette. As the track progresses, they start to slow dance with each other. The video is both visually stunning and raw, showing a love story that’s intimate and wistful. The track ends with almost a full minute of echoing and crescendoing synths that transition listeners into the next track.

In the following track, “Fear”, Rattigan discusses being sometimes afraid of himself, adding “I don’t want to live this way.” The lyrics dance with spinning guitar melodies and a steady beat that eventually fade out when Rattigan finishes the sensitive song.

“Alabama” is slower, far more self-reflective and vulnerable. Rattigan talks about not liking where he’s at in life and how he’d be better off existing far away. He strategically uses echoing synths and steadily-paced guitar to sell the vulnerability of the song even further, making it one of the most moving tracks on the album. “Way Out Here”, the following song, almost piggybacks off of “Alabama”, but it has far more powerful and belting lyrics.

The first four songs serve as the opening act for the rest of the album, and halfway through, “No Words”, an all-instrumental track, acts as the intermission. The last four tracks each pack a punch, yet they also highlight the sweetness of what it’s like to be in love — especially “My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days”, and its accompanying almost ten-minute-long video.

The album is a genuine and stunning work that showcases Rattigan’s exceptional musicality and range. Rattigan is no rookie when it comes to creating poetic lyrics and is especially gifted in mixing. Because of that, A Different Age easily fits in among the best indie rock albums that 2018 has offered so far. Don’t pass up the opportunity to immerse yourself into nostalgia — perhaps lying on a couch next to the one you love on a sleepy, rainy afternoon in spring, where everything feels safe and secure and life is okay.

Listen here: