Nevāda Nevada at The Burlington Bar

Nevāda Nevada songs are lush, loud, melodic piano-and-guitar landscapes nested within an awful lot of noise, penned by frontman Kathryn Musilek (Burn Disco Burn, Deathships) and shaped and arranged by the band: Andrew Gerhan (Our Lady of the Highway, Adam Arcuragi, The Animals), David Olson (The Poison Control Center, The Wheelers) and Alicia Berbenick. In addition, Isiah Gage plays cello that sometimes sounds like horses, and Anya Combs plays supremely skronky, no-wave saxophone.

Musilek’s lyrics are figurative and feminist, full of abrupt shapes and bright-siding about “the difference a day made a decade ago,” or the more weighted and upsetting fact that “we can leave”, but it’s not going to change much. The songs on Past Life are about time and activism, love and rage, and being stuck while still building something.

Nevāda Nevada’s signing to Rocks in Your Head is a natural fit; NN band member/producer Andrew Gerhan recorded and mixed a number of Sonny and the Sunsets’ classic albums including Tomorrow is Alright which was called perhaps "the most iconic SF album" by the SF Examiner, and contains the beloved hit single Too Young to Burn.