#11 on the 2025 Bacon Top 31 — Nation of Language

January 21, 2026 by Royal Stuart in 2025, Top 31

Dance Called Memory by Nation of Language

It’s awesome to have been with a band since they first started, watching them grow and evolve over time. Nation of Language, the synth-pop trio out of Brooklyn, have released four albums in the last six years, all of which have been in the top half of the respective years’ Top 31 (#3 in 2023, #4 in 2021, #15 in 2020, and now with their fourth, Dance Called Memory, here at #11 in 2025). Vocalist Ian Richard Duvaney, his longtime romantic partner, keyboardist and backup vocalist Aidan Noell, and bassist Alex MacKay have created one great album after another since they formed in 2016 (MacKay joined the band in February 2022 as they started their North American / European tour for 2021’s A Way Forward, after original bassist Michael Sue-Poi left).

If, like me, you’ve been a fan of what Nation of Language has produced so far, then Dance Called Memory is right up your alley. These 10 songs will not surprise you with a left turn, or something un-NoL like — which is impressive in and of itself. When I wrote about the band’s 2021 album, I assumed I’d grow tired of their music, attributing what I considered “derivative” to mean it would not carry them forward. And I’m happy to say I was completely wrong. I still hold that their third album, 2024’s Strange Disciple, is their best, but it’s not a very easy call to make.

To get a good sense of these new songs, you can check out the band’s KEXP performance from August of this past year. Additionally, watch the video for “Inept Apollo,” featured above. Directed by bassist Alex MacKay’s brother John, the song’s lyrics speak to times gone by: “I still remember how it was before.” The video for “I’m Not Ready for the Change” was also directed by MacKay. With its repeated “I’m not ready for the change” chorus, evokes that feeling we all get when we’re not ready for whatever big life change is coming around the corner. “Nights of Weight,” a more somber song featuring Ian Devaney’s guitar strumming and haunting vocals mixed with a bit of harmony and synths drowned out in the background, has a 1-take video shot by Ian’s brother Sean. Like the other songs, its message is a bit obtuse, but the emotion it conveys is one of melancholy. “I can’t handle your silence / Used to be comforting, long ago.”

With lyrics like these you’d expect that Devaney’s life was full of broken relationships and sadness – but he and Noelle have been married since July 2018, and together for even longer. 2025 was supposed lead into a glorious 2026 for the couple, but instead ended in immense sadness for them when on December 11, Ian announced the loss of their first child, daughter George Margaret, on Instagram. She arrived much too early, at only 22 weeks, and did not survive. According to their social media presence, they appear to have a fantastic foundation of support that has helped them through this rough time. I can also see that the band has decided the best road to recovery is to not get in the way of progress for the band, resuming their tour with a couple of shows in January and then they move onto Mexico in February.

We all have to find our way to move forward when faced with tragedy, and I’m glad the couple has been able to get back out and perform. But I can’t help what wonder what the rest of 2026 will bring, once the already-booked tour stops have been played. Heartbreak often makes for beautiful art, but it can be an impossible hurdle for relationships. I wish them both and the band the best, and I hope they make it through the rest of the year stronger than ever and ready for whatever comes next.

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#3 on the 2023 Bacon Top 31 — Nation of Language

January 29, 2024 by Royal Stuart in Top 31

Strange Disciple by Nation of Language

“I’m dubious they can continue in this same direction without bringing something new to their sound” is how I ended my review of Nation of Language’s 2nd album, A Way Forward (at #4 in 2021). Not only have they continued in the same direction as that great album, they’ve somehow managed to surpass its greatness, all while staying true to their synth pop gods. Strange Disciple, the trio from Brooklyn’s third album, is their best yet.

They first announced the album back in April, along with the first track, the unbelievably catchy “Weak in Your Light.” For the next five months they slow-rolled three more fantastic songs, bringing my excitement for the full album to a fever pitch by the time it came out on September 15. It was very much worth the wait.

In a way, the band hasn’t changed all that much since their 2020 album, Introduction, Presence (#15 in 2020. Those 10 songs mix well with the 10 songs on A Way Forward and the 10 songs on Strange Disciple, making for one hell of a >2 hour block of songs (Introduction is 43 minutes long, and Forward and Disciple are both 44 minutes each. The band is the definition of “consistent”). If you listened to either of their past albums, then this new album will feel like you discovered an entirely new wing on your home behind a bookcase, complete with neon-colored, gorgeously-decorated spaces and a dance floor.

Check out the amazing video for their song “Too Much, Enough” above. Directed by Robert Kolodny (director of Netflix’s The Featherweight), it features Jimmi Simpson (from Always Sunny and Westworld) and a slew of other actors and musicians (Reggie Watts, Kevin Morby (#3 in 2022), Tomberlin, Adam Green from The Moldy Peaches, LVL UP’s Greg Rutkin) all acting like members of a local news production while lip syncing to the song. It’s absurdist qualities align well to those of the song, which is “a song born out of an exhaustion with the 24 hour news cycle and the outrage bait it uses to get everyone permanently wound up,” according to the statement the band issued when the video came out. They’ve released two other videos from the album, for “Sightseer” and “Sole Obsession.”

Nation of Language are just hitting their stride. I fully expect their next album to be #1 on the Top 31 — they’ve proven their formula works, it’s expandable, and I absolutely love it.

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#4 on the 2021 Bacon Top 31 — Nation of Language

January 28, 2022 by Royal Stuart in Top 31

A Way Forward by Nation of Language

This one, A Way Forward, the sophomore release from Brooklyn, NY, band Nation of Language, is going to take you back. Honestly, the album couldn’t be more poorly named, as everything about it drips nostalgia. You may remember Nation of Language from last year’s Top 31, when their stellar debut album, Introduction, Presence, came in at #15. As the band has settled into themselves, expanding their corner of the indie pop world, they’ve dug deeper into the 80s pop archives. “New wave indie pop” is the genre Wikipedia puts them in. My uneducated mind wants to call it merely “synth pop,” but you get the idea.

The trio, Ian Richard Devaney (lead vocals, guitar, synthesizer, percussion), Aidan Noell (synthesizer, backing vocals), and Michael Sue-Poi (bass guitar), have created an album full of treacle. Song after sugary song, this album makes you want get up and move. Devaney’s vocals always sound as if he’s standing back in the corner of a cavernous room, singing breathy, sometimes intelligible words. And that’s ok! Because these songs are not about the lyrical content – it’s all about the keyboards, the dance groove, and the 1980s ethos.

Whereas last year’s album felt a little disjointed, due to the album being a collection of singles that had been released over the years prior, A Way Forward shows what the band can do with purposeful creation of a whole. As you start the album, the first couple tracks ease you into what they’re all about. Then you hit track 3, “Wounds of Love,” and you’re fully invested, standing up at your desk and lightly shifting your hips from side to side. The song shown in the video above, “The Grey Commute,” comes in at song five, and you‘ve abandoned all hope of getting any more work done.

Watch the video for song six, “This Fractured Mind,” and I dare you not to dance infectiously along with Devaney. It‘s impossible. Nation of Language have a mountainous task ahead of them – how do they keep this momentum rolling, and make their sound less nostalgia, all their own? While I love what they’ve done on these last two albums, I’m dubious they can continue in this same direction without bringing something new to the sound. Only time will tell, and for now, I’m going to enjoy the hell out of it.

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5. Things Take Time, Take Time by Courtney Barnett
6. Little Oblivions by Julien Baker
7. Valentine by Snail Mail
8. sketchy. by tUnE-yArDs
9. A Very Lonely Solstice by Fleet Foxes
10. Hey What by Low
11. Local Valley by José González
12. Head of Roses by Flock of Dimes
13. The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows by Damon Albarn
14. Collapsed in Sunbeams by Arlo Parks
15. Loving In Stereo by Jungle
16. Flying Dream 1 by Elbow
17. Screen Violence by Chvrches
18. Blue Weekend by Wolf Alice
19. Mainly Gestalt Pornography by Pearly Gate Music
20. Peace Or Love by Kings of Convenience
21. These 13 by Jimbo Mathus & Andrew Bird
22. Mr. Corman: Season 1 by Nathan Johnson
23. Home Video by Lucy Dacus
24. I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico by Various Artists
25. Siamese Dream by Fruit Bats
26. NINE by Sault
27. Observatory by Aeon Station
28. The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania by Damien Jurado
29. A Beginner’s Mind by Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine
30. Where the End Begins by Knathan Ryan
31. Private Space by Durand Jones & The Indications

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#15 on the 2020 Bacon Top 31 — Nation of Language

January 17, 2021 by Royal Stuart

Introduction, Presence by Nation of Language

Throughout 2020, when I wanted to listen to something released in 2020, but be swept back to the simpler emo/goth days of the late 20th century, Brooklyn’s Nation of Language would be there for me. If I were to play their fantastic debut album, Introduction, Presence, for you, and I didn’t tell you who it was, I fully believe you’d wrinkle your brow and say, tentatively, “is this… Joy Division?” or “…Depeche Mode?” or “…The Cure?” depending on the song I put on. Yes, the band’s impersonation of our synth-pop heroes from the 80s and 90s is really that good.

No, I haven’t put any eyeliner on while listening to them, but lord I hope the kids are (please, somebody with a connection to teens or 20-somethings, gather intel and report back). The trio, Ian Richard Devaney on vocals, guitar, percussion; Aidan Noell on synth and background vocals; and Michael Sue-Poi on bass; started on their pilgrimage to another era back in 2016. Since then they’ve released amazing single after amazing single, slowly building up enough songs to compile it into this lovely debut album.

Introduction, Presence doesn’t really have a breakaway hit for me to point you to. Rather, the feeling the album evokes is an entire world I wish I could go back to. I know I’m being exceedingly glib about the late twentieth century (hello white privilege!) but it’s less of an era and more of a younger age sort of longing. The freedom, lack of responsibility, and excess amount of disposable income that comes with youth is what this music reminds me of. But that’s also a great reality check, as I put it on the page. Yes, life was different then. But I also didn’t have my son, who is twelve now. Or my daughter, who is three. Or my lovely wife, who is… not three. Listening to Nation of Language allows me to think of that previous life fondly, and to spread that joy around my currently life. Give it a listen, as I know you’ll find that joy, too.

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1. Saint Cloud by Waxahatchee
2. Fetch The Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple
3. Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers
4. folklore + evermore by Taylor Swift
5. Untitled (Black Is) + Untitled (Rise) by Sault
6. RTJ4 by Run The Jewels
7. Shore by Fleet Foxes
8. Serpentine Prison by Matt Berninger
9. The Ascension by Sufjan Stevens
10. Making a Door Less Open by Car Seat Headrest
11. Dreamland by Glass Animals
12. A Hero’s Death by Fontaines D.C.
13. Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez by Gorillaz
14. Mordechai + Texas Sun EP by Khruangbin
15. Introduction, Presence by Nation of Language
16. Free Love by Sylvan Esso
17. Miss Anthropocene by Grimes
18. 3.15.20 by Childish Gambino
19. Women In Music Pt. III by HAIM
20. The Third Mind by The Third Mind
21. Superstar by Caroline Rose
22. Impossible Weight by Deep Sea Diver
23. We Will Always Love You by The Avalanches
24. Ultra Mono by IDLES
25. Visions of Bodies Being Burned by clipping.
26. Thin Mind by Wolf Parade
27. The Loves of Your Life by Hamilton Leithauser
28. Palo Alto (Live) by Thelonious Monk
29. color theory by Soccer Mommy
30. Fall to Pieces by Tricky
31. Quarantine Casanova by Chromeo

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