Chaotic, cathartic, and consuming, Nonetheless Clean’s sophomore single “Ain’t Fairly Proper” channels darkness into an alt-rock fever dream of uncooked sound and visceral self-expression. In dialog, the duo replicate on the storm that birthed the music, the emotional toll of making it, and their dedication to staying fluid, fearless, and ever-evolving.
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Scripting this music took loads out of us and was emotionally draining. We realized that with the intention to convey that pressure, we needed to go there ourselves.
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Suntil Clean’s “Ain’t Fairly Proper” is an unsettling, unrelenting thrill – a fever dream of pressure and turmoil that builds and boils over, by no means letting up.
Written in a stormy Manchester winter, the duo’s second-ever single channels darkness into a surprising, slow-burning various rock eruption: It’s uncooked, visceral, and deeply immersive, laced with dissonant guitars and stripped-back manufacturing that pulls you right into a fractured world of dysfunction and want.
Jordy Fleming’s voice cuts by like smoke by fog – smooth, however hanging; heavy with ache, but seething with energy. “I lay down, I watch her breathe / My mindless lamb of ecstasy,” she sings in a breathless whisper alongside bandmate Ben Kirkland’s wall of churning electrical guitars. “She would fall within the grime if she noticed me betray / So I’ll cowl my tracks and I’ll wash ’em away…”
I lay down, I watch her breathe
My mindless lamb of ecstasy
I’d peel your thoughts
And snatch all your desires
She would fall within the grime
if she noticed me betray
So I’ll cowl my tracks
and I’ll wash em away
Though it ain’t fairly proper
It ain’t fairly proper, you say
Aah, ain’t fairly proper
Aah, ain’t fairly proper
The band name it “an edge-building music” – and you’ll really feel that pressure in your chest from the second it begins. “We wrote the music round Christmas in wet Manchester whereas listening to numerous Sonic Youth and PJ Harvey,” Fleming tells Atwood Journal.
“Normally, Ben leads the music and I work on lyrics and melody, however this one flipped. We wished it to really feel on edge – constructing pressure. The lyrics discover a dysfunctional relationship the place each side are suffocating, and neither can let go. The guitar virtually talks again to the vocal, responding with this jarring power that provides to the unease.”
That pressure is the music’s lifeblood: A brooding pulse that fuels each phrase and riff.
“You chunk my tongue, a palm to cheek / I choke your mind in bare sleep,” Fleming confesses. “Oh, it ain’t fairly proper / I do know it ain’t fairly proper.” These strains sting like wounds left open. Every verse drives deeper into that darkish, co-dependent dynamic – one which feeds on ardour and ache in equal measure.
You chunk my tongue, a palm to cheek
I choke your mind in bare sleep
Oh it ain’t fairly proper
I do know It ain’t fairly proper
Within the burning silence, peel my eyelids
Slam the door I’m locked outdoors
However in a minute you’ll say don’t ever depart me alone
Ain’t fairly proper…
Nonetheless Clean are a examine in distinction. Fleming, from Kauai, Hawai’i, and Kirkland, from Manchester, UK, met in Liverpool and bonded over a shared want to discover and stretch sound. “I feel the explanation the music sounds the way in which it does is due to our vastly completely different experiences rising up, but we in some way nonetheless had comparable crossovers,” Fleming shares.
The band’s sound lives in an area between genres – pulling from shoegaze, grunge, and minimalist people to create one thing wholly their very own. This June’s debut single “What About Jane” launched Nonetheless Clean’s artistry by a mirrored image on id and notion. “Over the span of our album, there’s positively quite a lot of genres and sonic moods,” they notice. “‘What About Jane’ is nearly just like the central heartbeat music that exhibits parts from completely different sides of the document and ties all of them collectively.”
Nevertheless it’s “Ain’t Fairly Proper” that dives deepest into the darkness.
“Scripting this music took loads out of us and was emotionally draining,” the band admit. “We realized that with the intention to convey that pressure, we needed to go there ourselves, which was finally fairly taxing. We hope listeners can choose up on that and be taken someplace comparable.”
“Ain’t Fairly Proper” is the storm cloud to their debut’s looking skies – a sonic distinction that affirms their want to stay fluid and ever-evolving. “I feel that this music exhibits one finish of the spectrum of who Nonetheless Clean is. We wish the music we make to have many various faces, moderately than stagnate in a single expression,” they share. “Initiatives which can be considerably fluid and in a position to discover completely different genres, moods, instrumentation and subjects inside their music are essentially the most attention-grabbing and galvanizing to us. This music is one face, and the subsequent observe may have a brand new one.”
Storm out of the automobile and into the kitchen
China flies towards an image
Eyes on hearth, phrases spewing hand grenades
Attain for the knife, go and take my head
Nevertheless it’s not my life as your breast turns pink
And now you ain’t fairly proper
Oh It ain’t proper
That creative elasticity is what makes Nonetheless Clean such an thrilling artist to observe. There’s even a second model of the music – “Ain’t Fairly Proper (Unresolved)” – created in collaboration with legendary producer Flood.
“He has unlocked a darkness within the music we didn’t know existed,” Nonetheless Clean say. That model leans even additional into dissonance and despair, discovering magnificence within the discomfort.
With only some songs launched to this point and far more on the way in which, Nonetheless Clean are already staking their place as one of the vital dynamic, enigmatic new voices in various music.
“Ain’t Fairly Proper” is chaotic, cathartic, and fully consuming – a soundtrack to the storm inside us all. Atwood Journal caught up with Nonetheless Clean’s Jordy Fleming and Ben Kirkland to dive deeper into their seductive sophomore single, exploring the depth behind its creation, the load of channeling that darkness, and the duo’s imaginative and prescient for an ever-shifting, multifaceted sound.
Finally,“Ain’t Fairly Proper” doesn’t simply simmer – it scorches. It’s haunting and harrowing, hypnotic and human: A fearless emotional purge that leaves you uncooked and breathless, but in some way wanting extra. We’ll be protecting a detailed eye on Nonetheless Clean as they proceed to launch music all through the remainder of the 12 months, rising as considered one of 2025’s most fun various artists to observe!
Aaahhh, I understand it ain’t fairly proper
Oh it ain’t proper
Aaaahhh you understand it ain’t fairly proper
Oh it ain’t proper
It ain’t proper
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Stream: “Ain’t Fairly Proper” – Nonetheless Clean`
A CONVERSATION WITH STILL BLANK
Atwood Journal: Jordy and Ben, thanks for chatting immediately! For many who are simply discovering Nonetheless Clean immediately by this writeup, what would you like them to find out about you and your music?
Jordy Fleming: Thanks! Nonetheless Clean took place in a moderately auspicious approach. We’re a duo from reverse ends of the globe that linked in Liverpool. Ben is from Manchester, UK and I’m from Kauai, HI. I feel the explanation the music sounds the way in which it does is due to our vastly completely different experiences rising up, but we in some way nonetheless had comparable crossovers.
You debuted earlier this 12 months with “What About Jane.” What excited you about that music, sufficient to make it your ‘introduction’ to the world? In different phrases, why debut with it?
Jordy Fleming: Over the span of our album, there’s positively quite a lot of genres and sonic moods. We felt like “What About Jane” is nearly just like the central heartbeat music that exhibits parts from completely different sides of the document and ties all of them collectively. The lyrics pull from our private experiences and discover the query of id inside us all, which is one more reason it felt like an sincere reflection to debut with.
Fill my ebook with straight A’s
You have been knocking on doorways
on the lookout for somebody to save lots of
What about Jane, what about Jane
Throw me in water, need a happier daughter
You have been stoned after church
What about Jane, what about Jane
All people’s fingers raised
What about Jane
I don’t know her however I’d wish to
I don’t wanna damage you, might need to
“Ain’t Fairly Proper” is your second lifetime single, written throughout a stormy Manchester winter. What is the story behind this music? What makes it particular, for you?
Jordy Fleming: This was a latecomer, however we ended up liking it an excessive amount of to save lots of for later. It was initially 6 minutes lengthy and was so enjoyable to write down. Simply the 2 of us in Ben’s mother and father home proper round Christmas. Whereas the power elsewhere was so brilliant, we have been hypnotized in a darkish krautrock world. For this music, we ended up switching typical roles with me arising with the preliminary riff and Ben arising with the preliminary lyric. From there it was free flowing between the 2 of us. It’s most likely essentially the most enjoyable to play reside. I feel that’s a part of the explanation we wished to launch it sooner than later.
How do you are feeling this observe continues to introduce you and match into the general narrative of who Nonetheless Clean is?
Jordy Fleming: I feel that this music exhibits one finish of the spectrum of who Nonetheless Clean is. We wish the music we make to have many various faces, moderately than stagnate in a single expression. Initiatives which can be considerably fluid and in a position to discover completely different genres, moods, instrumentation and subjects inside their music are essentially the most attention-grabbing and galvanizing to us. This music is one face, and the subsequent observe may have a brand new one.
What do you hope listeners take away from “Ain’t Fairly Proper,” and what have you ever taken away from creating it and now placing it out?
Jordy Fleming: Scripting this music took loads out of us and was emotionally draining. We realized that with the intention to convey that pressure, we needed to go there ourselves which was finally fairly taxing. We hope listeners can choose up on that and be taken someplace comparable
What is the story between the OG “Ain’t Fairly Proper” and “Ain’t Fairly Proper (Unresolved)” – and what is the significance of this various model of the music?
Jordy Fleming: After creating the OG “Ain’t Fairly Proper,” we have been approached with a possibility to work with the legendary Flood. He’s produced numerous of our favourite data which have impressed our complete lives to date. With the unresolved model, we imagine he has unlocked a darkness within the music we didn’t know existed.
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Stream: “Ain’t Fairly Proper (Unresolved)” – Nonetheless Clean`
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