Four years would normally be a long time for a band like
the Ting Tings to wait between albums, but they didn't disappear entirely: two of the biggest hits from
We Started Nothing, "Great DJ" and "Shut Up and Let Me Go," were still used in commercials and soundtracks years after their debut's release, suggesting a remarkable endurance for their bright and brassy new-new wave. The scrappy pop of their first album is largely gone on
Sounds from Nowheresville, replaced by a glossy eclecticism that was inspired by
the Beastie Boys' mosaic-like masterpiece Paul's Boutique. There's a clear
Beasties influence (though the execution is more reminiscent of
Beck's
Odelay) on "Hit Me Down Sonny" and "Hang It Up." Elsewhere, "Guggenheim"'s tale of heartbreak, revenge, and makeup boasts girl group-channeling spoken-word verses; "Soul Killing" is a playful piece of ska-pop that uses a squeaky door as a percussion element, and "Day to Day"'s tightly looped acoustic guitars evoke the teen pop ballads churned out by the production team the Matrix in the early 2000s. Interestingly,
Nowheresville's best moments bookend the rest. "Silence" begins the album with slow-burning drones that are a far cry from
We Started Nothing's sugar rush hooks, while "In Your Life" closes it with a ballad that would do
Nancy Sinatra proud; it's mournful, slow, relaxed, spacious -- everything that virtually every other
Ting Tings song isn't. ~ Heather Phares