SAFETY LAST
newest VINYL!
IN LOCAL SEATTLE RECORD SHOPS June 2024
All NEW songs, recorded with the legendary Mr. Jack Endino.
as reviewed in Maximum RockNRoll 5/25
From the bedrock of the Seattle punk scene, making their first music from ’79–’84, STUDENT NURSE reemerges some 38 years later with fresh energy and new music—this ain’t no reissue! Revived from the long view allowed by the pandemic, Helena Rogers’s vocals and guitar still front the band. She writes lyrics that young punks haven’t yet earned, like “Look at us, we’re not the ones to blame” from “Aurora.” The band works hard to produce an album that weaves between off-kilter rhythms and on-the-four convergence that will undoubtedly get you nodding. Bass riffs wander effortlessly all over the fretboard, rarely ceasing, while guitars scratch out bittersweet riffs and skronky upstrokes. The drums order this chaos, catching everybody’s irregular grooves, bringing back to center this electric orchestra for verses where Helena and David’s vocals tell it solemnly. This clearly isn’t a cash grab to capture old fans, given their short and fractured stint so many years ago. Instead, we are lucky enough to witness a group of artists who have put out some truly special music. Each of these eight tracks are over four minutes long, and none of them drag. For a good taste, try out “What Happened to Me?”—I think it encapsulates the spirit of the band, their tenure in the scene, and their ability to somehow, 38 years later, not miss a beat.
Reviewer Willis Schenk
Maximum Rock'n'Roll #504 • May 2025
With a handful of singles released during '79 - '82, Student Nurse have reformed some four decades later and decided to put out an album's worth of new material. Honestly, I'm so impressed by this. Lurching, propulsive, weird-ass tunes firmly entrenched in their instrumental intricacies - eeveryone's doing their own thing, to great effect - and at times jubilant as hell. Indie, pop, and math rock duking it out in equal measure, all of it fiercely original. Really fucking cool and odd, and such a grand celebration of the lasting joy of music, both its consumption and its creation.
reviewer Keith Rosson
RAZORCAKE # 147
