Album Review: Emerging Indie Act West 22nd Has Nowhere to Be

Cross-genre debut album embraces heartache, desire, and nostalgia

Reviewed by Catalina Perez, Fri., May 9, 2025

Photo by Daelynn Dugger

Deep in the heart of Texas – well, the “University of,” at least – lies West Campus: unhinged at times, but nonetheless foundational to the Longhorn experience. Once home to Sloan Struble, aka Dayglow, the UT neighborhood has recently left its appellative and sentimental footprint on a fresh indie act: West 22nd.

With a handful of singles and the All the Way Home EP under their belt, the UT student-composed group rides the oscillating wave of life and love on their Southern-dusted indie debut album, Nowhere to Be. As a whole, the 45-minute record renders a sustained expression of ambivalent reminiscence throughout, offering passionate pits of infatuation cut with melancholic ruminations and slivers of a yearning for what once was.

West 22nd’s debut album splices beachy soundscapes with pensive, heartfelt confessions, generating a suitable summer road trip soundtrack.

On the surface, coming-of-age opener "Can't Help It" appears as an upbeat, coastal-cruising track. When combing through the "oohs" and bright guitar strums, though, lead vocalist Logan Madsen divulges, “You caught me lonely, falling down/ I get the feeling you’re not around/ Raw emotions, no common ground/ But I know I can’t quit you now.” The lovestruck narrative comes to an end when wistful guitar strums lead "Back on Me" into the spotlight.

As those chords ring out, an almost wind-like sound grows and shrinks before echoes of animated bass riffs and textured drum patterns promise a more optimistic path. Running adjacently, however, whispers of resentful lyrics counteract ironically dreamy vocals as they journey through a simplistic, easygoing soundscape.

Clad in a twangy folk ensemble, "Savannah" travels down to the Georgia coast, where hope and romance go hand-in-hand. Operatic strings make way for the acoustic, stripped-down "I Wonder Why," where a head-over-heels Madsen spills introspections of a nameless muse. Through harmonizing melodies and swirling strings, he serenades, "And when the sunlight hits her face/ It reminds me that everything is OK/ When I’m in her grace/ But in my mind I see the way she shines.”

Revisiting the East Coast with a perky indie approach contrasting “Savannah”’s country cloak, “Virginia Highlands” sits optimistic and warm. As the members’ hometowns range from both ends of the country, aspects of the song highlight their roots – as in the catchy chorus, which alludes to an Atlanta neighborhood, and instrumentals that conjure danceable, California vibes.

At two minutes and 11 seconds, closer "Sun in the Sky" stands as the LP's shortest piece. Resembling the sound of playing a cassette, it commences with a "pressing play" click and finishes with an eject noise with a lullaby-like, acoustic guitar-led hymn remaining sandwiched between sound effects. Madsen hums, “Sun in the sky/ I know you’ll never leave me lonely/ Though I know you hide away at night and give way to the moon.” The track's only weakness? Not being long enough.

Appearing as a cohesive patchwork quilt, Nowhere to Be’s genre-traversing landscape makes for an anthology whose growth lies in a palate-expanding writing range in spite of the occasionally muddying background vocalization. Whereas their 2023 EP All the Way Home boasts a buoyant spirit, Nowhere to Be sinks into deeper waters and leans into a moody, coming-of-age concept. Released ahead of sunblock-and-sandals season, West 22nd’s debut album splices beachy soundscapes with pensive, heartfelt confessions, generating a suitable summer road trip soundtrack.