NEW ALBUM: The Crying Nudes
Nobody seems to know exactly who or how many people are behind The Crying Nudes, and that mystery has always been part of the appeal. The band appeared around 2023 through a pair of singles released by World Music, before sharing their self titled debut album the following year. Credits have since linked the project to Dean Blunt and Copenhagen musician Fine Glindvad Jensen, aka Fine, while Vegyn is another name that regularly appears in online discussions. We are fans of all three artists separately, so we are not exactly surprised to find ourselves completely hypnotized by the band’s music, whoever may actually be involved. Their brief, moody and raw dream pop fulgurances immediately got under our skin, with their 2024 record eventually landing on our Best Albums of 2024 list.
Now, The Crying Nudes are back with DJ, another strangely compact release that appeared with very little warning. Teased on the band’s Instagram only yesterday, the new album features eight tracks packed into less than thirteen minutes. Once again, it arrives through World Music, the elusive London label run by Dean Blunt and Inga Copeland.
Even shorter than their 2024 self titled release, DJ disappears almost as quickly as it begins, and that is definitely part of its charm. These gorgeous songs feel like thoughts or memories caught on tape, blending subtle dream pop melodies with touches of country and folk, all wrapped in a sparse yet beautiful guitar atmosphere. The tracks are simply named after numbers, an approach we already encountered on lucre, Blunt’s collaborative EP with Elias Rønnenfelt. The only exception is the third song, “when i dance i raise the dead”. Naturally, everything is written without capital letters, perfectly in keeping with the band’s understated world. And as always with The Crying Nudes, the result is completely haunting. Stream DJ below.
Jennifer is a London-based writer originally from Italy, drawn to the edges of culture and the friction of underground scenes. She focuses on experimental and electronic sounds, and the communities that surround them.
