The Voids’ version of the song is very much emblematic of the era within the band’s career it came out in, with its muddy percussion and gloomy, lo-fi production. The tone of the track is strikingly different than it was ten years ago – like Sea of Worry so far, it’s decidedly cleaner and brighter. We then transition into „Trespassers W“, a song which originally appeared on Voids ( Music Ruins Lives, 2009), a collection of demos following the band’s debut. It feels spacey and expansive throughout, but once again, sadly, not much else happens until the end of the track’s runtime, where it fizzles out in kind of an unsatisfying way. „Science Beat“ further mellows out the album’s atmosphere with a distant, synth-heavy, Post-Punk soundscape. Unfortunately, despite the dynamic start, as it goes on, the song starts to suffer for its length and general lack of interesting sonic variety. After a tight beginning, the song gets more and more dissonant, with distant, shouted vocals and what sounds like faint organ stabs. Lyrically, the song introduces another statement which is to be explored later on, on the album’s B-side: if there’s a God, He’s not how we thought. The opening guitar tones of „Dracula Bells“ feel like an almost unmistakable callback to the 2000’s Post-Punk Revival bands – in fact, the first half of the song (with a few tweaks to the production) feels like it could’ve made it into Interpol’s Turn on the Bright Lights ( Matador, 2002). The song’s chorus expresses in no uncertain terms that disaster awaits, and that those who have the power to do the most damage – certainly will. Have a Nice Life have always been ones to directly approach very difficult and uncomfortable subject matters in their lyricism, and the song’s lyrical theme of climate anxiety is probably its most contemporary and incisive aspect. In fact, the only defining characteristic of their sound that seems to have carried over onto Sea of Worry is the ‘buried-in-the-background’ approach to vocal mixing. The opening track is more reminiscent of classic Post-Punk than anything the band has released to date. One of the first things to notice with Sea of Worry (The Flenser, 2019) is a stylistic shift from the lo-fi, drone-y, claustrophobic production that characterised both of Have a Nice Life’s past records, towards a distinctly cleaner and clearer sound. However, their latest release sees them by and large discarding their characteristic genre-blending sound, and opting for more of a re-hashing of familiar Post-Punk forms. Without a doubt, Deathconsciousness (Enemies List Home Recordings, 2008) was a definitive moment not just for the band themselves, but for the genre as a whole, a breath of fresh air after the early-aughts Post-Punk revival seemed to run out of ideas. Have a Nice Life – Sea of Worry ( The Flenser, 2019)Ī little over a decade ago, Have a Nice Life debuted with what is probably the most universally acclaimed, significant and innovative Post-Punk record in recent memory.
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