The trauma of the Covid-19 pandemic is still fresh in the collective consciousness. Two years ago, no matter how much one might like to forget, the world changed. Billions of people were cast into lockdown. Musically, it produced what is now known as the "lockdown album"; albums that suggestively encapsulate an artistic expression unrestrained by time as well as a way to a breezy press release. In a way, the lockdown album has become a trope of sorts, but this is merely one lens with which to interpret a work, and independent of context and press releases, music is music.
"Nutrients", by jolly Torontonian indie-funk outfit Different Bridges, is a lockdown album that manages to forgo any sense of paranoia or frustration, focusing instead on celebrating the freedom we took and continue to take for granted.
On tracks like "Nauseous" and "Window Seat", the group summon a 70s tinged disco/soul/funk amalgam and cover it in candy-sweet vocals and measured electric guitar. "The Dolphin" is a truly bizarre and wonderful song, with programmed drums, 80s keyboard sounds, and children's TV-show vocals, it highlights Nutrients strengths; their readiness to be strange and, ultimately, joyful. "How the Breeze Felt" is a pleasant and quite sexy number, though it lacks in any discernible edge and falls squarely middle-of-the-road. This is also the case for the more low-tempo numbers such as "Long Walk on the Beach", which is made pleasant by guest saxophonist Emily Steinwall. Elsewhere on the album, percussionist Juan Carlos Medrano broadens the palette of the genre to touch on world rhythms.
"Different Bridges" wears its positivity proudly, and finds moments of unbridled joy when Nutrients aren't conceptualizing, but making music for music's sake.
★★★½