Duluth-based Nudecolors released their first studio album last weekend and I have been listening almost nonstop since then. “Paradise” is a five-track alternative rock album they described as being about “living in a beautiful and f***ed up world.”
The first track is called “Heat.” It’s an inspiring song about living life to the fullest. The line repeated here and there, “nothing ever happens by itself,” encompasses what the song well. It is the most upbeat dance-worthy song on the album and has a great energy to start off on.
The album’s title track comes third and is the slowest song. It is a love song at its core but it feels like something else entirely. Lines like, “We will find a place to hide, we will find paradise” and “I’m crying out to God for the very last time, I tried and I tried to fight my fight” feel like it’s about love in the face of the apocalypse.

My favorite track is “Dance Floor.” Musically it is the song that transcends the CD and hits you the hardest. The song writer puts us in the place of a dance floor, where they see a girl under a disco light. It describes the electricity two people can feel for each other and how the narrator does not want his partner to return to the dance floor and thus leave him. When they hit the chorus and the drums start pounding and the guitar starts raging, you can feel that electricity they are describing.

The last track is called “It’s a Mess.” This song is mostly composed of the lyrics, “It’s a mess in this place,” so I asked the band to tell me what this song is about. Songwriter Steve Hamlin said he wants listeners to interpret it for themselves, but for him it’s about vulnerability.
“I’d say the song is about taking a real look at yourself and being aware of the world around you,” said Hamlin. “When I wrote the song, it was coming from a place of vulnerability. Realizing that not only does the world need to change but myself included. I think we get caught up in pointing fingers at politics and religion because we think that once it’s fixed, we can begin to fix ourselves. It’s backwards but for a lot of people it’s the truth. So, maybe if we can learn to be vulnerable with each other we can change ourselves and hopefully the world.”

You can find “Paradise” at local record stores or get it digitally at nudecolorsmusic.com.