Stream: NO WIN, ‘Same’

Kevin Bronson on January 10th, 2020

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Danny Nogueiras slashed and smiled (even if some of them were wan smiles) through “Downey,” his 2019 debut album as NO WIN. Named for and inspired by memories of his hometown, the album delivered hook after hook of ’90s-styled indie-rock and power-pop. Was that era really a quarter-century ago? “Downey” made it seem like today.

NO WIN returned today with “Same,” their second single since the album release. Following the deliciously crunchy “Blood on Your Tooth,” released in October, “Same” is different, mellower and a contemplation on change. Is it inevitable? Does it even exist at all? Is the onset of change worth the trepidation?

“Same is about that feeling you get that nothing’s ever going to really change for better or worse,” Nogueiras says, “Maybe people never change, maybe they constantly change, so it just feels like never-changing. Who knows?”

Maybe then is now, and now is then. And possibly it’s simply that, as Nogueiras sings in the bridge, “Maybe I could’ve been a little sweeter on the phone.”

||| Stream: “Same” and “Blood on Your Tooth”