Billy Nomates - CACTI - The Singles, Reviewed

Billy Nomates - CACTI - The Singles, Reviewed

With the release of her brilliant debut album in August 2020, Tor Maries AKA Billy Nomates quickly established herself as one of the best acts in the modern post-punk revival along with contemporaries like Sleaford Mods and Yard Act. She went on to build on her sound with the ‘Emergency Telephone’ EP, with more of an emphasis on electronics, and delivering poppy, anthemic tracks with punk bite. Now, with the release of her second full length, ‘CACTI’, on January 13th, she seems to be building even more on her unique, gritty mix of power pop, post-punk and electronic. So, I’m just going to give a quick rundown and review of the singles released so far, to get an idea of the quality of what’s in store on release day.

balance is gone
The second single and opening track to the album in my opinion is a great showcase of Tor’s newly evolved sound. Of course there’s a brilliantly dirty bassline at the foundation of this track, which is then complimented by a brilliantly danceable, punchy beat, and touches of percussive electronic effects that add a nice bit of flavour to proceedings. Then atop that there are also some relatively new ideas in Tor’s musical arsenal, including a very strong, indie-rock style guitar riff, and various ethereal and glitchy synth sounds, particularly visible in the great, psychedelic, dreamy bridge. What’s more is that in addition to this great instrumental, Tor delivers one of her most characterful, commanding and catchy vocal performances ever, with a killer refrain, as well as lyrics about mental instability that are relatable, well-written, and pretty deeply emotional too. So I think it’s safe to say for an opening track you couldn’t ask for much better.

blue bones (deathwish)
The lead single has much the same sonic approach of its successor, but in a more subdued context, with a much moodier, Joy Division inspired bassline, clean, ringing guitars, and hazy keyboards. So while the chorus does have some more impact with some boosted up drums in addition to a cool power pop guitar riff, overall it’s certainly a more chilled affair, which isn’t a bad thing by any means. Billy certainly understood the assignment on this one too, for lack of a better phrase, where, aside from yet another great chorus, she delivers a more subdued, melancholic performance, which makes sense due to the song’s touching, mortality-centric lyrics, but still with the same melodic strength present on other singles. So while not as immediately catchy or accessible as ‘balance’, it’s still a thoroughly enjoyable single.

saboteur forcefield
This third single is much of the same, to an even more potent degree, a minimal yet subtly punchy 808 beat underneath a bed of dreamy, psychedelic synthesisers and keyboards. It’s a very nice ethereal, laid back vibe. This is also complimented by touches of echoey, metallic guitars, with a decent riff in the chorus, and actually a quite nice extended section near the end too. Billy holds down the fort on this one pretty well too. Her lyrics about emotional self-sabotage are very captivating and again, while it’s a much more hushed performance, the catchy melodies are still there of course. So, on balance, it’s maybe a little more underwhelming, if only due to its highly subdued sound, but regardless I still found it very appealing.

spite
This one is maybe the most classically indie/power pop of the bunch, but is also definitely the one with the most tangible bite to it. From a nice, dirty, fuzzy guitar riff to a great, agile, groovy bassline and noisy keyboards, it definitely has a touch of post-punk to it, but the punchy, danceable drum beat and cool, mellow synths give it that slight pop edge that characterise her latest singles, with an intriguing atmospheric bridge making use of echoey guitars. This sense of accessibility is complimented by some more ferocity on the vocal end, as while Billy continues to maintain a strong sense of melody and catchiness, she also delivers her gnarliest and most fiery vocal performance of all the singles so for, which in conjunction with the highly self confident, biting lyrics works a treat. Maybe this single won’t work for those more impressed with her poppier singles, but for many people, including me, it works very well as a melding of her both old and new styles.

vertigo

This final single functions on a much moodier groove, with a nice angular bassline and raw drum beat complimented by lively percussion. Atop this Tor lays some intriguing guitar atmospheres, relaxed atmospheres and bleepy synths, added to in the chorus with yet another anthemic guitar riff. The bridge is also captivating with its ghostly, ethereal keys. So musically definitely in the rest of the album’s wheelhouse, but with its own nocturnal, psychedelic appeal. But Tor’s vocals and lyrics are really where the song comes into its own. The lyrics dealing with invasive personal feelings of paranoia, anxiety and uncertainty in a very vivid, sharp, and eloquent way, Tor’s vocals switch from frantic, half-sung, subtly strained and shaky in the verses, reflecting the subject matter, to the trademark, distinctive, sharp croon that leads yet another great, catchy chorus. Five singles might seem like a lot, and resultantly come across a slightly risky move, but I think if you’ve got songs like this up your sleeves, why wait?

So, based on these singles, do I think the album will live up to expectation? Absolutely I do. Based on the sonic and lyrical territories explored by Tor on these singles, I can tell that we’re in for a very nuanced, catchy, biting, and personal album. What’s more, should the rest of the tracklist uphold the same quality standard, despite not even being two weeks into the year, we may well have a serious contender for album of the year on our hands.