Tickets are now available to see Nation Of Language at Rescue Rooms!

The icy, post-punk-inspired synth pop of Nation of Language is the creation of Ian Devaney. The early work of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark inspired him. Taking the project in its own refined, melancholy direction. Devaney and his bandmates presented Nation of Language’s full-length debut, Introduction, Presence, in 2020. Consequently the project peppered in earlier Krautrock and experimental electronic influences a year later on A Way Forward.

Devaney’s onetime high-school band The Static Jacks didn’t work so Nation Of Language formed. Ultimately leaving him back at his parents’ in New Jersey. His father played OMD’s “Electricity,” in the car one day. Hearing it inspired him to try to write something similar, as an exercise. The resulting track was “Laudanum,” which ended up on Nation of Language’s eponymous debut EP in 2015.

What was next?

Over the next few years, a Brooklyn-based Devaney continued to write and release songs for the project’s rotating lineup. This included 2016’s “What Does the Normal Man Feel?” and 2017’s “Indignities,”. Abe Seiferth (Phonograph, Yeasayer) produced both. The latter song featured Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti, he joined on tour as bassist in the second half of 2017. Other members during this period included Michael Sui-Poi and Andrew Santora, both of the Static Jacks, and Devaney’s then-fiancée, Aidan Noell, on synths. Following a tour in support of the Wombats, Nation of Language issued the track “Reality” in mid-2018, then went to work on a full-length debut.

The lineup of Devaney, Noell, and Sue-Poi emerged with the Seiferth-produced Introduction, Presence in May 2020. The album was well-received, and Nation of Language embarked on their first headlining tour in the weeks leading up to the November 2021 release of a follow-up that crept toward more experimental 1970s influences. The PIAS-issued A Way Forward was produced partly by Seiferth and partly by Nick Millhiser of Holy Ghost!