An unending scream-piercing nature. He needs to stop. He leans against the railing, feeling a ting of melancholy. The sun sets. The sky suddenly becomes red as blood, the fjord bluish black. “I stood there, shivering with fright. And I felt a loud, unending scream piercing nature," wrote Edward Munch in his 1892 diary about the experience which inspired him to paint “Scream”. 

In much the same vein is this year’s release “Ahoi De Angst.” Though separated by 117 years, the feeling described by Munch is more than evident in Simon Says No!’s first impact on the world. From the opening track’s shivering, dissonant tremolo guitars to the more epic and noisy conclusion, there’s a consistent primal longing, a scream, haunting your soul. 

Building on many of the elements found in '90s shoegaze circles, Simon Says No! have been compared with fellow citizens of Oslo such as Serena-Maneesh, The Lionheart Brothers and 120 Days. But the band attacks their influences from a different angle than their countrymen. The '70s psychedelia and the noise fuzz of the '90s take their beat from a dirty, punky attitude, making the band more straightforward than most shoegazers these days. Their music makes you think back to both The Colours and Shape of things long gone. Whether it’s the sweet melodic krautparts or the title track's hardcore mania, Simon Says No! demands your attention. The band insistently shakes their sound fists. The EP journeys from fits of “angst” through the “shiver” and the “sleeping heart,” ending in the “peak,” which states "my heart is growing." 

Maybe that’s what “de Angst” does to you. It wakes you up. At the very least it makes you feel alive. Just like Simon Says No!, there might just be some hope for every complacent and indifferent soul looking for an awakening.