In April of last year, we premiered Inherited Dreams, the fourth release (and the full-band debut) from Nastos. With an impressive body of work and a skilled cast of collaborators behind him, former Piles bassist Nolan Truttschel just keeps on writing new material and it continues to get better and better with each new release. Earlier this month Truttschel—who plays guitar and sings in this project—treated listeners to a batch of leftover solo songs, which took the form of his anyway EP. As it turns out, that unexpected “OG-style” Nastos release was simply setting the stage for another full-fledged album from Truttschel and his corp of contributors.
On Friday, November 1, Nastos will release the project’s latest and greatest album to date. Illegal Spirits is a nine-song continuation of the fleshed-out form Nastos took in Inherited Dreams. This time around, Truttschel is joined by a familiar face on guitar, former Piles bandmate Jesse Harmon. Together, along with Truttschel’s brother Aaron and bass player Andrea Milewski, the outfit manages to take Illegal Spirits to a variety of places over the course of the record’s 35-minute run time. Along the way, the quartet ably careens between the realms of bleary shoegaze and punchy post-punk to both expand upon and improve upon their distinct sound.
Recorded by Nicholas Elert over a weekend this spring and mixed in summer, Illegal Spirits finds the project that started as a little-known solo endeavor taking a sizable step toward becoming a remarkable Milwaukee band. “It feels like everyone has really developed their own style within the sound of the band and the album feels like our live set,” Truttschel tells Milwaukee Record. “We couldn’t be happier with it.”
Nastos will play WMSE’s Local/Live at Club Garibaldi on Tuesday, November 5 and a release show at High Dive on Friday, November 8. Before Nastos releases Illegal Spirits, you can listen to the entire album below.