Tag: Nick Kizirnis

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Nick Kizirnis Returns with 120 Minutes MTV-era Alt Rock Anthem “Through The Motions”

Nick Kizirnis is a Dayton, OH-based singer/songwriter and guitarist, who has spent the past two-plus decades writing genre-twisting and genre-defying material on over ten solo albums, while also collaborating and playing in bands like The Mulchmen, Tobin Sprout’s Eyesinweasel, Cage and others with a collection of up-and-coming local musicians. 

Over the past decade or so, the Dayton-based artist has been primarily focused on guitar-driven compositions, but his last solo album The Distance saw Kizirnis returning to writing lyrics and arrangements while also simultaneously being a step forward stylistically. As Kizirnis explains, he had a desire to push himself beyond anything he had previously done. “I wanted it to be new and different from what people had heard from me,” the Dayton-based artist said.

Kizirnis’ forthcoming album Every Moment sees the Dayton-based artist collaborating with an All-Star cast including The Breeders‘ and Guided by Voices‘ Jim Macpherson, Foxy Shazam‘s and Lung‘s Daisy Caplan, Tod Weidner and Kate Wakefield and guest spots from Trashcan Sinatras‘ Paul Livingston and Guided by Voices’ Tobin Sprout. Sonically, the album’s material reportedly builds on a range of influences including Link Wray, The National, Guided by Voices, Neko Case and others paired with Kizirnis’ probing lyrics and textured, guitar atmospherics throughout. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about album title track “Every Moment,” an anthemic track that recalls Starfish-era The Church and Reckless-era Bryan Adams-like rock featuring some big fuzz and distorted pedaled guitar riffs, a driving rhythm section, big, incredibly catchy hooks and choruses paired with Kizirnis’ easy-going yet earnest croon. 

Recorded remotely during the depths of COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdowns and restrictions and later finalized in-person with Macpherson, Caplan, Wakefield, Weidner and Kyleen Downes, “Every Moment” as Kizrnis explains is about staying present during impending existential crises and the brink of collapse.

“Through the Motions,” Every Moment‘s third and latest single, continues a run of 120 Minutes-era MTV alt rockers, anchored around big fuzzy riffs, rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses paired with Kizrinis’ yearning yet easy-going croon. And much like its immediate predecessor, the song is deeply inspired and informed by the strangeness of our lives during the pandemic.

“Through the Motions” is about wanting to experience real wonder and possibility again during a time we were all living in isolation and watching both the mundane and unbelievable take place every day, while we just did our best to exist,” Kizirnis explains. “It’s also a song about finding love in the middle of it and the hope that it might lead to a way out.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Nick Kizirnis Shares Anthemic “Every Moment”

Nick Kizirnis is a Dayton, OH-based singer/songwriter and guitarist, who has spent the past two-plus decades writing genre-twisting and genre-defying material on over ten solo albums, while also collaborating playing in bands like The Mulchmen, Tobin Sprout’s Eyesinweasel, Cage and others with a collection of up-and-coming local musicians. 

During the past decade or so, Kirzrnis has focused on guitar-driven compositions; but his last solo album, The Distance saw Kizirnis returning to writing lyrics and arrangements while simultaneously being a step forward stylistically, As Kizirnis explains, he had a desire to push himself beyond anything he had previously done. “I wanted it to be new and different from what people had heard from me,” he says,

Kirzirnis’ long-time friend, Austin-based drummer Mark Patterson had just temporarily relocated to Dayton to visit family and prepare touring and recording as a member of acclaimed indie outfit Son Volt. Patterson had offered to work on the material that Kizirnis had worked on, enhancing the material’s arrangements based on his experience playing in the Austin scene. During the creative process for the Patrick Himes-produced The Distance, Kizirnis began to feel that writing for his voice was limiting the material. He recruited Cincinnati-based singer/songwriter and cellist Kate Wakefield, one-half of the duo Lung, to contribute vocals. 

Wakefield’s background as an opera singer, plus her years of recording and performing helped pushed the fledgling album and recording sessions into high gear. “Kate brought a completely new dimension to the songs,” Kizirnis says. “The moment she sang them, they were transformed into something so much more.” 

Kizirnis’ forthcoming album Every Moment sees the Dayton-based artist collaborating with an All-Star cast including The Breeders‘ and Guided by Voices‘ Jim Macpherson, Foxy Shazam‘s and Lung‘s Daisy Caplan, Tod Weidner and Kate Wakefield and guest spots from Trashcan Sinatras‘ Paul Livingston and Guided by Voices’ Tobin Sprout. Sonically, the album’s material reportedly builds on a range of influences including Link Wray, The National, Guided by Voices, Neko Case and others paired with Kizirnis’ probing lyrics and textured, guitar atmospherics throughout.

Every Moment‘s latest single, album title track “Every Moment” is an anthemic track hat recalls Starfish-era The Church, Reckless-era Bryan Adams-like rock featuring some big fuzz and distorted pedaled guitar riffs, a driving rhythm section, big, incredibly catchy hooks and choruses paired with Kizirnis’ easy-going yet earnest croon.

Recorded remotely during the depths of COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdowns and restrictions and later finalized in-person with Macpherson, Caplan, Wakefield, Weidner and Kyleen Downes, “Every Moment” as Kizrnis explains is about staying present during impending existential crises and the brink of collapse, which — well, considering everything seems all too fitting, y’all.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Dayton’s Nick Kizirnis Shares Bluesy and Mournful “The Distance”

Nick Kizirnis is a Dayton, OH-based singer/songwriter and guitarist, who has spent the past two-plus decades writing genre-twisting and genre-defying material on over ten solo albums, while also collaborating playing in bands like The Mulchmen, Tobin Sprout’s Eyesinweasel, Cage and others with a collection of up-and-coming local musicians.

Over the past decade or so, the Dayton-based artist has focused on guitar-driven compositions; but his latest solo album The Distance sees Kizirnis returning to writing lyrics and arrangements while simultaneously being a step forward stylistically. As Kizirnis explains, he had a desire to push himself beyond anything he had previously done. “I wanted ti to be new and different from what people had heard from me,” the Dayton-based musician and songwriter says.

Kirzirnis’ long-time friend, Austin-based drummer Mark Patterson had just temporarily relocated to Dayton to visit family and prepare touring and recording as a member of acclaimed indie outfit Son Volt. Patterson had offered to work on the material that Kizirnis had worked on, enhancing the material’s arrangements based on his experience playing in the Austin scene. During the creative process for the Patrick Himes-produced The Distance, Kizirnis began to feel that writing for his voice was limiting the material. He recruited Cincinnati-based singer/songwriter and cellist Kate Wakefield, one-half of the duo Lung, to contribute vocals.

Wakefield’s background as an opera singer, plus her years of recording and performing helped pushed the fledgling album and recording sessions into high gear. “Kate brought a completely new dimension to the songs,” Kizirnis says. “The moment she sang them, they were transformed into something so much more.”

Brooding album title track “The Distance” features contributions from Deke Dickerson’s Crazy Joe Tristchler (guitar), Himes (Hammond B3 organ) and Wakefield (cello and vocals). Along with Kizirnis, Tristchler, Himes and Wakefield craft a bluesy and mournful soundscape that recalls The Heartless Bastards and crying-in-your-beer honky tonk. The song’s narrator realizes that their relationship has come to the end of the road, and that its time for both parties to pack up their things and sadly move on,

The Katie Marks 2D animated video for “The Distance” features the song’s central couple falling in and out of love. And as they part ways, we see an animated Kizirnis playing guitar in a desolate, roadside honky tonk.