Vibe With the Indie Electronic Beats of Local Band Nocturnes

Music already has the power to transcend time and distance, but there is certainly something to be said about bands that hail from your very same location. After all, their songs are loaded with the potential to spell our own stories in the place we happen to call home. And, this is especially valid for Beijing, with its rich indie music scene.

So, with all this in mind, it was my pleasure to drop by nugget to talk to none other than co-owner and beloved musician David Carey on the occasion of the pre-release gig for Labyrinth, the new album coming out from his band, Nocturnes. Out of all of Carey’s past and present projects in Beijing, the longest standing one is this indie electronic band that he created in 2016, “through the collision of an Irish guitarist and Chinese vocalist” (that would be Weidu). Add Yutong on the drums as their latest addition and you got yourself a dream trio, thundering across the years with a rather unique, lush sound.

Now, it’s only fitting that Nocturnes would go big to celebrate their anniversary of sorts. The trio has unsurprisingly sold out for their show on Nov 5 at Wudaoying Hutong’s mythical School Bar.

However, Nocturnes are far from playing diva. In fact, they make themselves highly relatable to their fans in these fast-moving times by defining their new chapter as a band with a state of mind that they've titled “Lost and Found” (失而复得 shī ér fù dé). Sit down with us, dear reader, for an earnest interview where Carey lays bare on taking music seriously and passionately every day, right below.

Hey, Dave! Can’t wait for Saturday at School Bar. Tell us a bit more on the origins of Nocturnes. How have you evolved throughout the years? How do you stay close to your own roots as a group?
Well, it all ties back into my early days in China. I first arrived here along with my then partner, someone who was also in the music field but that ultimately decided to seek new paths in life and leave the country altogether. As for myself, I knew that I wanted to really devote my energies to music, and I had this thing going on that eventually took shape as Nocturnes. At that moment it was just Weidu and me. I’d been trying to find the right vocalist, but soon enough I realized that music was just a fun hobby for many of those who contacted me. Weidu had this unique voice and vision that she actually spelled out to me in this letter when she approached me. It was just a really good fit, and now here we are. There’s been a lot of water under the bridge for sure —time has passed, we have evolved and actually we’re just coming out from a slightly quiet period. We had plans for an international tour that are obviously on hold, Weidu left for Russia for a year sometime between 2019 and 2020… we really did lose ourselves some, only to find each other again. So, the “Lost and Found” vibe felt really appropriate for our return.

You’ve recently added a new member to the outfit — Yutong, a drummer fresh out from four-piece new wave band AV Okubo. How did this come to happen? What do each of you bring to Nocturnes?
Yes! Yutong has been a wonderful addition to Nocturnes. Here's a fun fact — Labyrinth is the first album where you’ll get to hear her powerful drumming, as she joined us right after our previous album was released. Besides her contribution to our sound, I would say Yutong has brought a lot of balance to Nocturnes. When you are a duo, obviously both of you want the best for the project, but some decisions can feel like a bit of a match to see whose opinion prevails. Yutong is now our third vote at every step. Each of us have our strengths, and together we have found our own twist within the genre. These days I see people dancing at our shows —I’d never thought I’d make music that people would dance to!

Speaking of twists, every artist draws inspiration from their own source(s). So, what would you say is the current that Nocturnes feeds from in order to do your own thing?
Every release of ours is somewhat of a departure from our previous sound. That’s really important to me, not even just to give the audience something new to listen to but also to challenge yourself and keep things interesting. Obviously, we all draw on inspirations from elsewhere when creating, but we try hard to avoid being a cookie-cutter copy of some other band out there, which unfortunately is something you see a lot of in the scene here. Our first album had a lot of influences from the XX and the Postal Service, then last year we released an EP that came from me really getting into an Australian musician called Chet Faker. This time around, for our upcoming album Labyrinth, we finally have a drummer, and so I’ve gone back to a lot of the music I used to really love listening to but had no way to recreate myself before. There are elements of Foals, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bloc Party, etc. But hopefully the core of it is still clearly us.

Ah, I love this honesty. And, I love that you are playing at School Bar. They’ve been around for a decade, and we all know that’s a miracle in Beijing. How do you feel about venues like School?
School was one of the first places that allowed us to play. They’ve always been really good to the local scene, generous to emerging musicians and bands. The thing is, all bands suck when they start off! It’s natural, it takes time for you to find your sound, find the balance between different members, learn how to perform. School is one of the places where new bands can have a platform to go and sing their hearts out to a receptive audience. We need more venues like this in Beijing. It’s something I also aim to do with nugget as well, especially with our recent full band shows there. We’re super happy to be going back to School for the launch, it always feels like coming home.

So ready for it. Tell us more about the future of Nocturnes?
Next up is our album release! The first two singles, title track Labyrinth and Flesh & Bone, have already been released, and we’re putting the finishing touches to the other eight tracks right now! After that, a ton more shows, a national tour next year (pesky Covid rules permitting…), and maybe even further afield! We played a two-week string of shows in Europe in 2019 and we’ve been aching to get out and about and play for people elsewhere ever since, fingers crossed!

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Images courtesy of Nocturnes