Nun is a

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

-based synth punk band formed in 2011. They have released two albums.

History

Nun started as a recording project as part of Tom Hardisty's studies at RMIT in 2011, with Steven Harris, Hugh Young, and Jenny Branagan joining as the project grew.

Solvents / Nun

The band released their first single ''Solvents'' on Nihilistic Orbs in 2012, which was followed by their debut self-titled album ''Nun'' in 2014, released by Aarght Records in Australia, Avant! in Italy, and

HoZac Records HoZac Records is a record label formed in Chicago, Illinois, United States in late 2006 by Todd Killings and Brett Cross after the demise of ''Horizontal Action Magazine'' (1997–2005). Concentrating on releasing records from musicians of the ...

in America. While recording their album the band where highlighted in Jimi Kritzler's book ''Noise in My Head: Voices from the Ugly Australian Underground''. The book features interviews with several independent and underground bands, and was celebrated for its focus on notable Australian musicians who may not have received enough mainstream press. Nun's debut album was reviewed around the world, with praise in Australia from national newspaper the '' Herald Sun'' and popular music website ''

Mess+Noise The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...

.'' Outside of Australia, the album was reviewed by several music

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

s in Italy, Poland, and Finland, while in the USA, Nun received nods from ''

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

'',

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

, ''

Tiny Mix Tapes ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, ...

'', and ''Live Eye TV''.

Immersion / The Dome

Following their debut, Nun recorded a second album in 2016, and at the beginning of 2017 performed the new song ''Can't Chain'' live on Melbourne radio station ''

3RRR 3RRR (pronounced "Three Triple R", or simply "Triple R") is an Australian community radio station, based in Melbourne. 3RRR first commenced broadcasting in 1976 from the studios of 3ST, the student radio station of the Royal Melbourne Institut ...

''. At the time they announced their new album ''The Dome'' would be out that year, but it remained unreleased until 2018. Instead the band released ''Immersion (With Enderie)'', a cassette tape / digital release featuring remixes of ''Immersion'', a song from their debut album. When ''The Dome'' was released in 2018, it came out on Aarght Records and HoZac Records with the delay attributed to each of the band members taking time to listen over the recordings while juggling their other bands and work commitments. The album was well received across Australia, with praise from local radio stations ''

4ZZZ 4ZZZ (pronounced "Four Triple Zed" or simply "Triple Zed") is an independent community radio station operating in Brisbane, Australia at the frequency 102.1 FM. As a community radio station, 4ZZZ is a member of the Community Broadcasting Assoc ...

'' and ''

,'' and in

street press Street press is a type of publishing, between zines and magazines/newspapers in terms of distribution, content and audience. They are particularly prolific in Australia, especially music street press, although there are also some examples from Eu ...

like ''Forte'' and ''Beat.'' Outside of Australia, ''

Maximumrocknroll ''Maximumrocknroll'', often written as ''Maximum Rocknroll'' and usually abbreviated as ''MRR'', is a not-for-profit monthly zine of punk subculture. Based in San Francisco, ''MRR'' focuses on punk rock and hardcore music, and primarily featu ...

'' likened Nun to

Siouxsie Sioux Susan Janet Ballion (born 27 May 1957), known professionally as Siouxsie Sioux, is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. She was the lead singer of the rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees (1976–1996). They released 11 ...

and Men's Recovery Project, and noted Nun predated "the current trend" of "darkwave synth punk records...by more than a few years".

Post-The Dome

Following the release and tour of ''The Dome'', Nun have been inactive, but its members have continued to make synth heavy music elsewhere. Since 2013, Jenny Branagan has collaborated with Andrea Blake as VACUUM, and they released their debut album in 2022. Steven Harris has released two solo album as Pyrrhic. Tom Hardisty has released his own solo albums, and has continued to play with Constant Mongrel which also features Hugh Young.

Members

* Jenny Branagan (Vocals and synthesiser) * Steven Harris (Drum machines and synthesiser) * Hugh Young (Synthesiser) * Tom Hardisty (Bass synthesiser).

Discography

Singles

''Solvents'', 2012 ''Immersion'' (With Enderie), 2017

Albums

''Nun'', 2014 ''The Dome'', 2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nun Musical groups from Melbourne