Moments Of Riot

Nervous Verbs — 2026

“Moments Of Riot never tries to make sense of loss, but it finds something beautiful in learning how to carry it.”

Cancer takes its toll on everyone around it, especially when all you can do is stand beside someone you love as they fight it. Mike Montgomery, the man behind Nervous Verbs and one half of R. Ring with Kelley Deal, lost his wife in December 2025 after a battle with cancer that lasted several years, and that loss is deeply felt on Moments Of Riot. What keeps the record from sinking completely into sorrow is how Montgomery surrounds these eight songs with friends while still leaving plenty of space for his voice and the rough edges of his home recordings. Cello, pedal steel, woodwinds, piano, and backing vocals drift in without crowding him. “Of Chrome” breaks that spell, bursting forward on a barrage of guitars and voices, while the gorgeous “I Will Find Them All” feels like the moment the record begins looking toward acceptance. This is a deeply personal album, but its real strength is how grief slowly gives way to something resembling hope. The delicate pace and arrangements truly connect, especially on “One Long Syllable,” whose haunting melody hangs with you. The heartbreaking lyric, “On the wall by the telephone, in case things worsen / Some numbers I could call if I were a different person,” captures the helplessness behind the entire record. Moments Of Riot never tries to make sense of loss, but it finds something beautiful in learning how to carry it.