Name: Hard Light
Brand: Drop Nineteens

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

WCR146LP-C4 -RT

Colour

Colour details

Red Sky Vinyl

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: Yes

Extended format

Extended format: Yes

Format detail

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2023-11-10

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

RTUK

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

843563168387

Total Cap

Red LP | Rough Trade Exclusive

WCR146lp-C3

Clear

Crystal Clear

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Secre­tly

843563167502

Clear LP

WCR146cd

Extended format: No

843563167526

Artist

Drop Nineteens

Genre US

Indie Pop / Shoegaze

Label US

Wharf Cat

Drop Nineteens is an alternative rock/shoegaze band from Boston, MA. They were active in the early '90s and broke up in 1994. However, they have recently reunited and are actively recording again in 2022. The original line-up consisted of Greg Ackell on guitar, vocals, and songwriting; Paula Kelley on vocals and guitar; Motohiro Yasue on guitar; Steve Zimmerman on bass; and Chris Roof on drums. After their first album, Paula Kelley, Chris Roof, and Motohiro Yasue left the band and were replaced by Megan Gilbert on vocals and guitar, Pete Koeplin on drums, and Justin Crosby on guitar. In their 2023 reunion line-up, Drop Nineteens consists of Greg Ackell, Paula Kelley, Motohiro Yasue, Steve Zimmerman, and Pete Koeplin.

Vinyl variants, bonus material and signed editions exclusively available from Rough Trade.

Newest Listed Items

Following the release of the shoegaze masterpiece Delawarein 1992, and the intricate experimentations on National Comain 1993, Drop Nineteens disbanded. They had a great run. Shared stages with Radiohead, Hole, Blur, PJ Harvey. Went from being teenaged kids in Boston to mid twenty somethings with an MTV video under their belt. So when Drop Nineteens ceased to be, Greg Ackell felt content, music was a closed chapter.

Following the release of the shoegaze masterpiece Delaware in 1992, and the intricate experimentations on National Coma in 1993, Drop Nineteens disbanded. They had a great run. Shared stages with Radiohead, Hole, Blur, PJ Harvey. Went from being teenaged kids in Boston to mid twenty somethings with an MTV video under their belt. So when Drop Nineteens ceased to be, Greg Ackell felt content, music was a closed chapter.

That was until 2021. For the first time in nearly 30 years, Ackell felt compelled to pick up a guitar. He immediately called up Steve Zimmeran, the band’s bassist and fellow guitarist, and the two got writing. It felt effortless for Ackell, like he never stopped writing music. “We were off to the races,” he says. “But also the question came up: what does a Drop Nineteens song sound like today? Enter Hard Light, the band’s stunning third record. It’s the band’s proverbial follow up to Delaware, a modern Drop Nineteens record that is completely singular in its sound and vision.

The first task making Hard Light, was of course, getting the rest of the band back together. Drop Nineteens is an inherently collaborative project. Ackell’s primarily the lyrics writer, and he collaborates with Zimmerman, Paula Kelley, Motohiro Yasue, and Peter Koeplin to create the sonic world. The record came together over the course of a year, recording at a patchwork of studios all around the country. Making music together felt natural, fluid, exciting.

The guitar reverb is expansive as ever. Ackell and Kelley’s vocals are crystalline. “Scapa Flow,” is triumphant. An excellent example of what a modern day Drop Nineteens song sounds like. The guitars glide like clouds on a blue sky day, drums shuffle in the background, searching. Ackell and Kelley’s vocals are cool toned and dreamy, bound up in a haze of reverb. It’s unquestionably lovely. You could say the same for the whole of the record. Hard Light is so lovely. A portrait of a band 30 years later, as talented and as dedicated to their craft as ever.

Hard Light

Music US

Discover Hard Light by Drop Nineteens. A stunning third record from the shoegaze masters, available in various formats. Released under the Wharf Cat label.