Album Review: “How to Get to Heaven From Central Florida” by nursing.
By Liam M. Hennessey and TJ Perry
If you have any familiarity with the Orlando indie scene, nursing. is a project you’ve almost certainly heard of before. Their 4th album overall and last LP since 2024’s The Entire History of You, nursing. returns to deliver an album that any indie-faithful fan will enjoy. Chock full of jangly shoegaze inspired guitars with riffs for days, dynamic and lively songwriting, anthemic choruses of softhearted vocals, introspective lyrics, and lo-fi vibes, this project more than checks all the boxes that any given fan of indie will be looking for. No given instrument sounds muddled or lost in the mix, and each track doesn’t sound so overly polished. It rides the tightrope of sounding like the kind of project that was recorded in a Motel 6 over a weekend and an actual proper studio recording perfectly. The songs that reflect this the most are the title track, “Dogtooth,” “The Law of Equivalent Exchange,” “East Coast Believer,” and “World End Solution 2003.”
The guitar tones and inspiring chord progressions throughout the album bring an air of nostalgia, heavily influenced by the 90s style and Steve Albini (RIP). Dylan’s soft vocals bring a dream-like state to the songs, highlighted specifically in “I See You.” This album has heavy shoegaze influence but the lyrics are absolutely brilliant. The perfect balance of heavy and soft in all the best ways. “Faceless, Nameless, Painless” brings some early 2000s punk influence with screaming vocals reminiscent of Hawthorne Heights, but the chorus guitars echo Hum’s direction.
Overall, nursing. continues to show why they’ve garnered such a reputation on this LP, delivering a stellar album that will leave old and new fans alike hungry for more. All ten tracks warrant their presence here, making this a perfect, no skip album. Every song on this album could be a single in its own right. With a consistent level of high-quality songwriting from start to finish, this project is amongst some of the best representations our scene can get. If there really is a Heaven, I have no doubt I'll be able to map my way there from Central Florida.
