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Have attracted quite a significant amount of attention online as well as through social media platforms such as TikTok, New York based band Nicotine Dolls are already creating a lot of love and excitement from music fans across the world.
With 2023 fast coming to a close, the band end the year on the high with their brand new EP, How Do You Love Me, and let me tell you what this is one collection of songs which will really pull on your heart strings and become your new favourite obsession, therapy and healing rolled into one.
Having heard the EP myself, I can wholeheartedly say once you connect to the music, you will find yourself being part of such a powerful and unbreakable bond, so let us take a little bit of a closer look. The EP begins with the headline track, and it is so emotionally filling, with such vulnerability and honesty. I think there used to be this expectation back in the day where being open about the scars that we carry was a gender based idea.
Thank the Lord those types of mentalities are starting to shift, because when you have bands such as Nicotine Dolls demonstrating such transparency with the feelings and emotions they are sharing with us in a song like this, that type of integrity is priceless.
If you take the depth of the songwriting for example and hear lines such as ‘...its true, I am probably not worth the battery life, but you still stick around and let me stay the night. I couldn’t work it all out even if I had wrote it all down to shut it out, how do you love me right now?’, hearing those lyrics don’t just touch the borders of vulnerability, it goes that extra step further, where we are just being very real about life.
We all struggle with our own types of insecurities, and in the case of this song, I guess in that moment where we are constantly viewing ourselves of unlovable, a song like helps to take us out of that that dark place and notice the ones around us who despite how tough we are on ourselves, still show up and are not giving up on us.
Next is SLIP, and as well as paying homage to those late night 2AM calls (oh yes we have all been there before I am sure), I just love how Nicotine Dolls are just saying it how it is. I think because they are providing a safe space to just be one with the realities of life, the things we yearn for, the people who are always on our mind and that unspoken love, that is what makes it really relatable. I love the fact as well that the song is also quite fast and energising in its own unique way, because in a way I guess that is similar to the way our minds must feel when you have that adrenaline rush when you have two people fighting against their magnetism yet still can’t stop thinking about each other at the same time. I just love the style in which Nicotine Dolls express that in their songwriting, with ‘we should be friends, we should be friends, funny how fast that word ends’ being a good example.
Real House follows and the wholesome songwriting just continues to flow, because it really helps you connect to Nicotine Dolls’ music, like this two way dialogue With this song it addresses I guess that feeling that our feels like a movie, where everyone is looking but at the core of it we are just trying to navigate it best we can, and yes that is not always sunshine and smiles, there are sad thing we have to deal with too.
Take this lyric for example ‘...a re-run is fine when your in it, until you know how it ended, then your just waiting for the screen to go black, oh a re-run is fine when your in it, but then you stop before the last minute, to start again, I don’t think I can handle this with my best friend…’. The way that Nicotine Dolls are able to take a dynamic concept, but still make it so relatable just amazes me, because i am sure this is one of those songs where whether its ourselves or someone else we can feel what it feels like to really walk a mile in our boots or someone else’s for that matter. I am a fond believer of the importance of empathy not just in music but life too, and Real House is just a testament to that.
The EP comes to a close with 30 Somehow, and it is such a beautiful and raw song which takes a reflective look at life. Whenever you listen to an EP or an album, there is always that one song you get drawn too, not just the ones that have the energy which pull you in, but also the ones that get inside your head, in a safe way. For me, 30 Somehow is THAT song.
For instance, the verse:
‘‘I don’t get home much, New York is pretty far, from an ocean to a river, never felt bigger than the pool in her backyard. People shake hands now more than they used to, maybe I am not used to saying goodbye. I am not to late to try to figure it out, to write it down on paper, the things that I want, all I am trying to do is figure it out, 30 somehow.’
That whole section speaks for itself and I could really sense and feel the total unadulterated emotion flowing through, especially as the vocals of Nicotine Dolls frontman Sam Ceiri and working with the support of the other members of the band are what make this song so powerfully brilliant.
When I first picked up this EP, I had no idea of what to expect, but having listened from start to finish, I have came away from this feeling a whole multi-layer connection and warm appreciation and respect for what could quite possibly one of my new favourite top bands to come out of the New York music scene. Imagine if titans of music such as The 1975, LANY, Mumford And Sons, LAUV all came together and had that extra layer of honest beauty within there music - well that is exactly what you will experience with a band such as Nicotine Dolls.
Available to hear on all major platforms, How Do You Love Me?, is available now! Happy listening!
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Article By Thushara S. Chandrasiri
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