Los Angeles indie rockers NO didn’t form out of a chidhood friendship or assemble via some Craigslist ad. Instead, singer Bradley Hanan Carter and bass player Sean Daniel Stentz met randomly at a local diner, sharing tales of broken hearts and bonding over a mutual love of Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash, and Lou Reed. From there, they recruited guitarists Reese Richardson and Ryan Lallier, keyboardist Simon Oscroft, and drummer Michael Walker, released 2011’s Don’t Worry, You’ll Be Here Forever EP, and toured incessantly up through 2013. Not bad for what started as two guys commiserating over coffee and danishes.
On February 18th, the band will release their debut album, El Prado, via Arts & Crafts. Like Carter and Stentz’s fateful meeting, much of the album’s emotional content is born out of finding silver linings in life’s turmoil. Case in point: lead single “Leave the Door Wide Open”. Here, the band delivers an uplifting hymn to the spirit of human resilience, sounding like a more optimistic version of The National. Seeking to instill hopeful reassurance, Carter croons, “Don’t worry worry if it’s a cold night, cause we all go up in flames/We fall heavy but we’re so light/So leave the door wide open.” Buoyed by a sweeping orchestral build up, Carter’s vocals eventually dissolve into an adjoining choir, leaving the song’s pure emotional core to vibrate into the ether. Listen in below.
El Prado Tracklist:
01. Leave The Door Wide Open
02. Stay With Me
03. What’s Your Name
04. Monday
05. So Scared
06. There’s a Glow
07. Interlude
08. Another Life
09. The Long Haul
10. North Star
11. Last Chance
12. Hold On
13. Go Outside
