Customer Reviews

reminder.

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Former drummer for Nine Inch Nails has moved on to darker pastures, namely creating his own work of art: nearLY's "reminder". Listening to Jerome Dillon's cohesive piece is like opening a door to a world you've dreamt about but doubted its existence. Drums, guitars, orchestration and piano flow into each other as siren Claudia Sarne's voice conjures surreal imagery and, apparently, Greg Dulli who "covers" his very own Afghan Whigs' "Step Into The Light". Dillon's labor of love and co-producer/engineer Brett Pierce's painstaking attention to detail come together to make this unforgettable album destined to be a classic alongside Portishead's "Dummy" or David Lynch's "Lost Highway" soundtrack.....................enjoy

I loved it! Not only does Mr. Dillon give instructions on the best way to listen to it, the description he gives of the music is dead on! So beautiful and rich sounding.

Violin player myself, I just fell in love with it. So layered and complex. Never a dull moment. All of the artists involved did a wonderful job. Its a who's who's list. Sad to see him leave Nin inch nails, but what a way to make a statement on his own!

Turn it up so you can hear all of it. If you are in Chicago, may I suggest listening to this on the Brown line heading North. Sit in the last car facing the city at midnight. Great listen.

I was recently introduced to Nearly, and became an instant fan. The mood is similar to 'Requiem For A Dream' but a substantial amount of bluesy attitude added to it while remaining true to an electronic/industrial background. 'Reminder' is a dark CD, for reflective and changeable listening experience. It's definitely a mood piece, with a lot of talent to back up the implied gloom, and more than a bit of spirit inside the despondent tones. You'll be stuck whether to classify this as industrial, electronic, classical, blues, or an eclectic mix of all of the above, but at any rate, you won't be able to classify it as inelegant or dull.

'One Day I Was Gone', the starting piece, holds some darkly classical notations. The mood reminds me of the mood from The Kronos Quartet's 'Requiem For A Dream'. 'Straight To Nowhere' has a more spirited and brazen beat, with lyrics that speak to me of hope despite the ennui. 'All Is Lost' is airless, shadowy, and depressing, with beautifully echoing drumbeats and strangely bitter lyrics of inner strength in spite of internal weaknesses.

'Liar's Day' is an instrumental, filled with gorgeous piano and guitar work that sets a dark mood of melancholy bordering on hopelessness. 'Prins Hendrik' starts with some casual acoustical guitar rifts, contains fantastic bluesy sounds, a strange song of love and caring through ennui, and showcases Claudia's sultry voice. 'Mary Vincent' speaks of love remaining after loss, a rather torchy song.

'Blackwing' is a short instrumental with sounds of rainfall accompanied with soft piano, while darker instrumentals set the mood. 'Step Into The Light' is a rather more standard and (somewhat) lighter torch song, the only song where Claudia sings duet. 'Wrong' is a haunting melody of self-awareness and melancholy. I have this image of walking alone on a beach wondering where I fit into the universe. It's very short but very poignant.

'Up In The Trees' is also quite short. It starts dark, ends dark, and is filled with thoughts of endings. The lyrics are whispered underneath the music, you'll have to listen hard or perhaps look them up on a lyrics website. 'Tributary' is a brighter follow up, 'Trees' almost sounding like a dark prelude to the acoustical intro of 'Tributary', in which the beat, the lyrics, and the uplifted mood are almost designed to bring you out of those dark trees you just wandered through.

'Release', an instrumental, has a foreboding, throbbing entry that leads to some thoughtful rifts, and from there builds into a crescendo of anticipatory sounds that leave you holding your breath till the end.

'Reminder' is dark, yet somehow singer Claudia Sarne has this way of lighting a candle at the end of your tunnel. 'Nearly' holds remnants of NIN, via drummer Jerome Dillon. The influence is certainly present, but the uniqueness of 'Nearly' doesn't smack of imitation. You'll probably notice some of the percussion similarities, adding to mood, but that is where the connection ends and fantasy takes flight on gossamer wings.

My recommendation: If you like dark and moody, and enjoyed the beats of NIN and/or the sounds of 'Requiem For A Dream', you should do yourself a favor and grab up this audiophile's treasure. Enjoy!

Jerome Dillon obviously is talented enough alone to make an amazing album. This album proves that fact. The layers of sound in this album will render you speechless. I would put it on par with, if not surpassing, The Fragile. If you are a NIN fan, this album is a much purchase. Claudia Sarde's vocals are completely unique and fitting to this work. Overall, I would say this is one of the best albums in the last decade.

This record really surprised me! I did'nt think that I would like it this much. There is so much emotion conveyed, I find myself listening to it from beginning to end. The orchestrations are beautiful and spellbinding. I want more!

For a long time it seemed as though Claude Sarne (of 12 Rounds acclaim) had fallen off the face of the Earth and that she wouldn't be making any more music. 12 Rounds had completed their addition to the Princess and the Warrior soundtrack, had gone back into the studio to make another album, and had found that their next album wouldn't be released. That seemed like a tragedy, too, because she had a vocal style that made her unique and perhaps one of the best vocalists I had ever heard. That was a shame on the band front, too, because Jitter Juice and My Big Hero had been beautiful hits that suffered from the lack of fanfare more than anything. Jermone Dillion was the person that brought that voice back from the edge of obscurity, however, allowing C.Sarne a platform from which to create music. He had worked with Nine Inch Nails for a while, creating music for them, and 12 Rounds had been in the stable of performers for Nothing Records for a time and perhaps that was why he recruited her. He wrote most of the songs and the music, combining his efforts with her every now and again but mostly utilizing her voice as an instrument, and NearLY was born.
And what a beautiful birth it was.

When I first heard Reminder, I marveled at how good it was and I wondered why I hadn't heard about it earlier. Here was something that was stark, somewhat moody and bleak, and beautiful all in the same breath and had really been overlooked. Many of the songs seemed to reach in and pull out a melodic underpinning of something both brooding and slowly paced and building, and a few of the songs step back and add in pieces of instrumentation that are really complimentary to the voice of Claudia Sarne in surprising ways. The thing that really makes the band is that voice, too, with C.Sarne's ability to create something of a hybridization that sounds like something electronically dark, something thriving in the backroom of a juke joint, and something that perhaps comes from the heart of a jilted lover. Normally I would pick out a song to compliment that point as well, but almost every song on the album is worth mentioning because of the ambiance created by the performance and because it really isn't another copycat recording.
It really is hard to find something flawed to comment on in this album.

The sad thing about the band is that, now, it seems like this will be the last thing to come from them. There is Reminder itself, the single it birthed as a companion, and the live DVD/CD that compliments it. Although not specifically tied into Reminder or the single, the live CD is a good thing to pick up if you like what you find here, because it shows the efforts of the band as a live act and it has one of the last 12 Rounds songs ever made by Claude Sarne. Regardless, this is a good investment and a beautiful work, sadly making its mark on listeners but not getting enough publicity.

Reminder is a highly recommended selection that has been sadly overlooked.

You may be familiar with the Nine Inch Nails drummer (and sometimes guitarist) Jerome Dillon. NearLY is Dillon's new project inspired by some recurring nightmares that he had for over six years (starting during his tour with NIN in 1999). First off, don't expect anything like Nine Inch Nails whatsoever. NearLY is a completely different entity.

Dillon is responsible for much of the instrumentation on the album. He plays pretty much everything from piano to electric and acoustic guitars, drums, percussion, dobro, ukulele, and Mellotrons; and he also handles the programming, ambience, and string arrangements. He's supported by a rich array of guests, including the amazing female and male vocalists Claudia Sarne and Greg Dulli respectively (it's mostly Sarne singing though). The outstanding violin contribution of Petra Haden is also worthy of mention.

Most of the songs are within the four-minute range, with some clocking in at less than two minutes. The music is in the post-rock mold focusing on minimalistic soundscapes that are highlighted by lots of non-metal instruments such as cellos, violas, and violins as well as wide percussive elements. Whilst Dillon performs most instruments, he chose to enlist the amazing vocal skills of Claudia Sarne whose angelic, fragile voice fits the pieces perfectly. After a dense start with various strings that help set the mood, Sarne's vocals float softly over Dillon's heavily reverb-induced acoustic guitars, eerie rhythms and cellos on "Straight to Nowhere". However, the following track "All is Lost" has an even more melancholic feel to it that recalls the earlier Dead Can Dance albums with live drums (there is plenty of programmed beats on the album as well). The heavy ambience during the intro of "Liars Day" evokes the dense atmospherics on Tool's "Flood" off Undertow. It's a song with sparse keys and a densely atmospheric undercurrent we mostly hear on Ulver's soundtrack albums.

"Prins Hendrik" and "Mary Vincent" are two songs that are not only musically riveting but lyrically as well. The theme of loss of innocence is perfectly portrayed by Sarne's ghostly vocals on the former (complete with a distant guitar tapestry), while the Mellotron-inserted "Mary Vincent" was inspired by a kidnapped girl who was raped and murdered violently at the age of sixteen. "Step into the Light", originally a song by Afghan Whigs, features both Claudia Sarne and the tune's original singer Greg Dulli. And it's perhaps the most emotional cut on the album along with the brief instrumental "Blackwing" whose piano work is right up there with Sigur Ros' () masterpiece; or the multi-textured soundscapes heard on "Up in the Trees" (much like something I'd expect from Ulver frontman Garm). "Tributary" goes back to trippy and electronic beats that underlie a deep acoustic guitar sound. A bit like later day The Gathering, the song is filled with sounds fabricated from Dillon's dreams. "Release", perhaps the most fitting title, is the album's final track: sporadic throbs, numbing guitar drills, and ethereal production.

Two months ago, when I first heard Reminder, I thought it was barely mediocre. Now, after patient repeat listens, I'm happy I could reach into its depths and discover Dillon's amazing skill for atmosphere and melody. I would recommend NearLY moreso to fans of Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Dead Can Dance, Ulver and No-Man rather than Nine Inch Nails.

Hard to believe this is nearLY's first album, and although you can see Trent Reznor's fingerprints all over this recording, nearLY presents a lot of style that is all his own. Anyone who is a fan of "The Fragile" or "Still" will really enjoy this offering. Though this album doesn't cover as much emotional landscape as Reznor's magnum opus "The Fragile", the songs "Mary Vincent" and "Liars Day" alone make the album worth the money, and it arguably is a top to bottom better listen than "Still".

In conclusion, nearLY has set the bar very high with this first offering, I hope there is more glimpes of brilliance to come.

Beautiful companion to this album: Buckethead "Colma". Pop these two CD's in back-to-back when you want to step outside the grinds of daily life.

When I first heard Jerome Dillon was working on a music project in his spare time from Nine Inch Nails, I was thrilled to hear what he had in store. Now that he's on his own and making a name for himself not only as a drummer, but an incredibly talented musician, I can only be grateful this record is already out. "reminder" is filled with plenty of moody ambiences and rhythms, and the songs are gourgeously crafted to fit the proper feel of the album. The music reminds me of a darker NIN, like something off of The Fragile, only moodier. It definitely has a dark and grim feel to it, and is perfect to listen to at night or on a very rainy day. This is one of those few records you can play over and over again and not tire from it. The songs are relatable to human emotion, and if there was a theme to the record, it would be just human emotion. It captures it nicely.
This is by far the best purchase I've ever made, and look forward to hearing more from Mr. Dillon in the future.

Richard Patrick had filter Chris Vrenna had tweaker. Although somewhat entertaining, these groups never sounded really GOOD. Now Jerome Dillon has nearLY. First off, I feel I should give some background. Long long ago, on a web site far far away, there was news of a project with Trent Reznor and 12 Rounds dubbed Tapeworm. This project never came to light and left many with drool in their hands. Secondly, I should say that although I love Nine inch Nails, I was immensly disappointed with the new album "With Teeth". It felt lackluster and immature.
Now with "reminder", I feel that not only has the Tapeworm project seen light, but also I feel that this is more of a NIN album than the last actual NIN album.
nearLY is beautiful, with moody arrangements, and structures found in Reznor's best work. It is also a co-project with 12 Rounds front woman Claudia Sarne.
Jerome may have just been a drummer (mostly for tours), but on this release he proves that he is much more.