Nerd alert!: On the debut of Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Band,
Nightmare Forever, the local octet synthesizes fever dream psychedelia, acid jazz, and a deep fascination with the fantastical and occult. The group’s namesake bandleader pens pieces detailing wizards, elves, plagues, and seahorses.: “As a kid, I was a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien,
Lord of the Rings,
Star Wars, and anything with fantasy,” affirms Potter.: Stitched together from recordings throughout 2017-2018, including segments off solo LP
Strange & Secret Peoples (2018),
Nightmare Forever resulted from a budding friendship with Oh Sees cottage industry John Dwyer, who became a fan of Potter’s solo work after hearing last year’s instrumental suite
A Spirit Lasts Forever and personal recordings
The World Is a Peach Goodbye in 2017. Working at Hotel Vegas, Potter was approached by Dwyer to record for his Castle Face imprint, home to Ty Segall and Australia’s King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.: Recorded over nine months,
Nightmare Forever thus spasms through prog (“Elf Curse”), space operas (“Donny’s Trip”), and Floydian opuses (“Pity in the City”) employing unconventional instruments and improvisational sorcery.: “We get comparisons to Jethro Tull with the flute, but honestly, it was just an instrument I got my hands on and wanted to use,” explains Potter on the instrument’s grounding of the album. “The flute has a mystical quality to it other instruments just don’t have.”: Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Before Christmas revives jazz holiday classics and traditional carols into a fusion of supernatural psychedelia.: “Christmas is my favorite time of the year, and musically, no other season can beat it,” enthuses Potter. “Expect lots of glockenspiel, flute, violin, and sleigh bells.”