DON'T PRESS THE RANDOM BUTTON!...
...'cuz the minute you start playing "Payaum-e Saudegi" [Message of Simplicity], the brand new debut album by NABZ, they invite you to step into a new dimension. They let you have a part in their story, said chapter by chapter, song by song. Welcome, and allow yourself to get carried away into a musical world, on a very personal journey.
I would not try to box them into a category, but if you cannot do without one and would else be totally disoriented, you may want to position them as post-modern rock with an alternative twist, of Persian sort. But considering the very early stages of the development of the new face of Iranian rock music, one has to admit that these guys have a sound all to their own. At a time when the brand new scene of Iranian rock is at best influenced by heavy metal or classic rock, these guys show influences by bands such as U2, The Cure, The Verve, and Beck. While some may not immediately be drawn to the mystique of NABZ, it will only take one listen for you to confess that you are indeed listening to original material.
It's as if we never knew we did, but we had been waiting for this duo to rise from the horizon of the West. Yes, for all of you who had given up altogether on Persian music made in California, these guys appear just in time, to deliver a message of rescue, a profound one of simplicity and clarity. The one thing that I recommend however is at least for your first couple of listens, you should listen to the full album in the format and the order that they present, and I'm pretty certain that they would agree with me on this. There is just something about the subtle flow of the songs that prepares you for the next track, and the next, all the way to the very last track on the CD.
The sound of NABZ is that of a wonderfully stretched electric guitar (Ali on guitars) accompanied by the deep, husky, and sexy voice of the singer (Arash on vocals). The first time you hear the melodies, your face gets that "huh, what was it again" expression. Some how you don't believe your ears that you are actually listening to rock music at its finest, with Persian lyrics! (For those who are drawn to the music but just cannot decipher the words, the original handwritten lyrics are provided on their web site, www.NABZ.com). But once your ears make the adjustment of listening to Persian lyrics delivered in a style that you have never experienced before, you begin to pick up phrases and sentences, here and there, and you don't know when it happens but suddenly you get it. And it is then that you truly hear the Message of Simplicity. Before long you notice how infatuated you have become with their lively, pulse-like beat, and want to go back and hear them over and over. So better keep off NABZ if you have an addictive personality!
The songs address life going around us, yours, and mine. You think their words are ones you had always had on the tip of your tongue, but never got around articulating it. Whether they tell you that you might want to undress on your way to freedom [track 1. Auzadi], let you feel the mood of the dancing surface of a water well in a moonlit night [track 5. Raghs-e Aub], remind you how you have wanted to kiss the hands of nature drawing magnificent pictures of sunset right before your eyes [track 3. Naghaushi], the urge to want to jump off but not having the guts to [track 6. Akharin Harf], or the indescribable comfort in having a loved one, no a worshipped one who loves you despite your weaknesses, who hears the pain in your voice [track 11. Parastesh], no matter which song you listen to, and which part of the journey you are with them, you always find a piece of you in their music. They manage wonderfully to bring in this air of freshness and yet remain so familiar.
NABZ is no random event just picking up in the Persian rock scene. In no other band out there, you find maturity and avant-garde so passionately and yet in peaceful harmony. These guys have got a message to tell you, but they don't hammer it down your throat. Instead they let your mind wander off on its own to places you haven't been to before.
