If asked what styles of music I would expect to find in an evocative, atmospheric concept album, jangly 1960s-esque guitar folk pop would be pretty low on the list. And yet, Inland Years's 13-song Nowadays is exactly that.
Going by the album's Bandcamp description as well as my own experience with listening to it, the songs combine to form a collection of vignettes; not complete stories, but individual scenes so vividly depicted that they are just as satisfying as if they were a single, whole story. To this end, a notable trait is that all of these songs are short: at 1:41, "Way it goes" is the longest on the album, and five of the songs are under a minute in length each.
The music is largely centered around bright rhythm guitar parts, expressive vocals placed anywhere from front-and-center to being muffled background textures as needed by each song, and light, straightforward drums. That said, there are some diversions from this format, such as the distorted storm of "Brand new" that sounds like it's always moments away from bursting at the seams but always managing to hold together by a thread; the beautiful tremolo guitar side figure in "I know this more than anyone"; and "Drove away," with its wonderfully blown-out soundscape that sounds at once bittersweet and triumphant.
Other highlights include "Morning train," presenting a pairing of bright guitar-led instrumental sections contrasted with more amorphous, abstract verses, and the lower-intensity "Every single time." The former of the two makes creative use of slide guitar playing, alternating between sweeping melodies and noisy glissando interjections.
Overall, Inland Years's Nowadays is a well-executed, surprising album with an impressively clear artistic vision. While there are a few minor issues (the instrumental performance is a bit inconsistent at times on some of the later tracks), these aren't enough to get in the way of its enjoyability, and especially given its short runtime I recommend giving this album a listen if anything written here sounds intriguing.