Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s “The Dust of Retreat” Review

For being together only slightly over a year, Margo & The Nuclear So & So’s have a chemistry suggestive of an aged road weary collective. The Dust of Retreat provides an outlet for this eight piece group, examining not only harmony and progression, but the constraints of love in the process. Drifting away from the snow ridden months of the Midwest comes an album complete with cello, keys, bass, guitar, trumpet and delusional love. Finding a common musical theme in The Dust… is difficult as it touches on a variety of sounds including the exhausted “marching band” drum sound.

“A Sea Chanty of Sorts” finds itself reviving the sound however, exhibiting a gentler side to that which has seemingly become ubiquitous in pop music. This blends seamlessly into “On a Freezing Chicago Street,” my favorite on the album, which sets thematic precedent for the remainder of the twelve tracks on the album; that of troubled love. It is this feeling of constantly wanting more while every inch of you cries for a romantic discontinuation, that I believe resonates within the album. At times, becoming too ambiguous for my personal understanding (which I believe reflects me personally more than it does the song) tracks such as “Skeleton Key” leave me with the strange feeling that nothing is going to get better in this affair.

While drifting through an acoustic paragon, addiction is introduced to the already corrupt love, fueling further dissent and loneliness. A quiet incorporation of each piece’s gentle simplicity into the ensemble reveals an album that tests the boundaries of what one is willing to pursue when finding yourself indirectly interloping your own livelihood.