Instagram Soundcloud Spotify
STEREO EMBERS EXCLUSIVE ALBUM STREAM w/ TRACK BY TRACK – “To All The Distance Between Us” from Seattle Dreampop Band The National Honor Society

STEREO EMBERS EXCLUSIVE ALBUM STREAM w/ TRACK BY TRACK – “To All The Distance Between Us” from Seattle Dreampop Band The National Honor Society

Written by:

Easily – obviously, even – the greatest liability a modest (if fiercely devoted) magazine like SEM faces is the extent to which gems slip through our fingers on the daily. It’s a bit similar, we imagine, to trying to clutch a handful of mercury, knowing there’s wonder within only to see it slither its silvery way out of our grasp. So much crosses our desks that, in the end, in order to take notice of a band or artist, we’re left relying on either kismet or an already-established familiarity or an especially silver-tongued publicist or, most likely, the arrival of a sound in our ears that we just can’t ignore. It’s that last that we find most compelling, of course, and it’s exactly that that has us offering up this advance stream of The National Honor Society’s To All the Distance Between Us, released this Friday, April 21st on Shelflife. Blessed with that most alluring of qualities, i.e. themes reflecting the darkness and oddness of its time bracketed inside indelible – some might rightly say addictive – gemlike pop constructions, it mixes the grit with the grace in such disarming fashion we’re left on the one hand to wonder how such entrancement is even possible while on the other being too transfixed to care.

From the first track “As She Slips Away” that arrives with a sharp jolt of audio iridescence before spiraling up into a heavy jangle pop stratosphere like a reactivated Let’s Active come to bear fresh witness on our current age, through the propulsive whoa! of “Control” – that bass! – the bewildering interplay of “It’s Killing Me” that sounds as if the band has just put together the perfect minor-chorded dreampop puzzle, “Jacqueline”‘s subtly classicist panache – we assume it goes without saying, by the way, that pretty much everything this band creates gives the impression of having appeared as if by heavenly fiat which in its ironic way simply reinforces the truism that it takes a ton of effort, not to mention talent, to sound this effortless – “The Following” with its huge sound and the tender application of such, all the way to the ringing yearn and splendor of “When the Lights Go Down” that carries the album to its conclusion while boasting the easy-handed richness of Brian Wilson inside a kind of Paisley Hollies framework, there’s nowhere among these ten tracks we wouldn’t be happy to find ourselves lost in.

Packed to the rafters with luminous harmonies, guitars set to stun, the band’s cohesion layering bliss upon bliss throughout – the production deserves awards, the hooks are so sharp they bite, the rhythm section flourishes, tight in that wonderfully loose way we all love – To All the Distance Between Us, taut, expansive, both balm and warning, is in many ways the record we need right now, and in fact it’s difficult to imagine either a more mood-exemplary or a more exultant-sounding record appearing in 2023.

All of which adds up to us being thrilled to not only premiere the album on the modest pages of SEM but to also offer a track-by-track from Coulter Leslie (TNHS’s vocalist/songwriter who fronts the band which also includes Jerry Peerson on lead guitar & BV, Andrew Gaskin bass & BV, and Will Hallauer drums), an analysis that’s bracingly honest and forthright – we all need that sort of thing right now – and that you can read down below the album feed. All in all, this is the type opportunity that passionately rewards all the effort required to keep SEM ticking along. And we are grateful, ever, ever grateful. [order To All the Distance Between Us here; band photo: Brady Harvey]

As She Slips Away

This album opener sounds like it came from the band that scored the opening slot at an
imaginary Stone Roses/Ride gig in 1992. Just the right bits of jangle, and that distinctive Holy
Grail reverb. Thematically, throw in the ruinous decline of an American legend as a metaphor
for the ruination of us all, and you have “As She Slips Away.”
Control
For those who began their lives in the analog era and crossed over into the digital era at a
certain age, there’s a palpable feel to the ever-increasing pace. Of everything. Like the
pressure canner not fully latched down, the pressure rises and rises, and you can write the rest.
In Your Eyes
There is a great sadness felt in a generational failure, both by those affected, and by those who
caused it, once they can see clearly into the rearview mirror. To all those who thought they
were right, but found out they were wrong. To the lives lost, and the lives still losing. His
defender, in shame.
It’s Killing Me
Perhaps the most on-the-nose song on the album. Really, it’s what we all wanted in 2021. The
outside.
Jacqueline
NHS is almost never accused of sounding like an American band, which is why Jacqueline is a bit
of an exception, rather than the rule for this band. But again, borrowing another American icon
to make another point about the state of things (that’s twice on this album so far), begged for a
little pop syrup, circa 1963. Harmonies never die, dreams always do.
Remember the Good Times
You can choose to end this song title with a question mark or a period, and whichever one you
choose is whatever the song means. Were they good times? They were good times. The
debate rages, ad infinitum. Will their fealty bring them to the promised land? Will they
collapse under their own weight? Should option b happen, let this be the funereal song.
The Following
There are those seaside towns all around the world, generally older, a bit rough around the
edges, with piers and carnival rides that may or may not have passed inspection. There are
those theme songs that you hear as you wander down the boardwalks, the ones that get
​impaled in your memory and you’ll remember them forever. Even when it’s all gone, those
songs will play on. Like the carnival ride that has lost one or two critical bolts but is still
wobbling ahead, just hoping to make one more revolution. Square go, steady on.
The Trigger
Every now and again, NHS veer into shoegaze land. A little bit JAMC, a little bit Ride, and some
rich harmonizing from bassist Andrew Gaskin makes this song feel right at home in the genre.
Celebrating the powers that are slowly beginning to right the wrongs of the past, that will
hopefully lead us into a better future, the Trigger is celebratory, despite all the fuzz.
Used To Be
The key to this song was the amazing Irene Barber agreeing to provide backing vocals in the
intro. If Siouxsie Sioux or Elizabeth Fraser aren’t available, you call Irene. She provides the
aurel hint of 1981, the early Reagan years. America’s decade, they tell us. But nostalgia can
only get you so far before the truth is revealed.
When the Lights Go Down
Not to be excluded from the growing list of decades references by this record, there’s a little bit
of a 1950s feel to this one, right down to the church bells in the background. When you’ve
crossed over into the territory where you constantly want people off your lawn, where it’s
always too loud and too late and too bad. Your “us” has become a “them”, and the curtain
drops. End scene.

Related