It may be a bit soon to call it, but Nostalgist’s upcoming mini-LP Disaffection may very well be a contender for album of the year. The album is due for release on March 16th via the band’s own Nostalgium Directive imprint, and we’re thrilled to premiere “Smoldering Amber,” the album’s second track.

“Smoldering Amber” is many things at once; a stunning ode to under-celebrated post-punk treasures, a love song to the early 90s wave of hard-hitting shoegaze juggernauts, and a powerful exercise in the best aspects of modern metal.

The track begins with a deep, delicious bass groove and a storm of heavy percussion courtesy of ex-Agalloch drummer Aesop Dekker. A delicate, reverb drenched guitar line takes hold as Asa Eisenhardt’s vocals, channeling The Comsat Angels’ Stephen Fellows, solemnly weave through the syrupy melodies. The track’s delicate tension breaks with a driving chorus that goes straight for the throat, channeling the quiet devastation of bands like Red House Painters and Swervedriver. A rare and extremely welcome bass/guitar interlude floats ominously at the halfway mark, before the track explodes into a wash of distortion and warm synthesizer.

“‘Smoldering Amber’ is the most lyrically intimate thing I’ve written to date. As with many of my songs, it chronicles the beginning, middle and end of some manner of relationship, but here the words are especially dramatic (even for me, ha) and visceral. Infatuation is the most central theme.

I do my best to really blend things up when I write, and both the mix and contrast of the heavy and the ethereal in “Smoldering Amber” is easily the most pronounced of the songs on Disaffection. Dynamics are another dimension of musical color one can explore and manipulate, really. All in all, I think this track is especially exemplary of what makes up Nostalgist.”

– Asa Eisenhardt

To celebrate the release of Disaffection, Nostalgist will be performing live at Kame House in Seattle on March 17th, alongside Geist & the Sacred Ensemble and Grey Waves. This will be the band’s first show with new drummer Alex Entrekin.

Check out the album art and tracklisting for Disaffection below:



Nostalgist- Disaffection Mini-LP

1. Pendulums

2. Smoldering Amber

3. Present Tense

4. Petrichorale

5. Threshed At Dusk, Winnowed At Dawn

6. Texture

(Photo by Shane Williams aka Thee Lord Fotog)