Although many (myself included) have accused this duo of being overly prolific and simply releasing every bit of recorded material that exists. While this is still a debatable case, this new full length album feels much more fleshed out and conceived when compared to some of their other works, and the addition of live drums on a few of the tracks doesn’t hurt either.
I must admit in most cases of being a fan of the ol’ drum machine. There’s something about repetitive, stiff beats that usually catches my ear. In the case of some of Nadja’s previous work, the monotone rhythms clashed with the often frozen, stagnant guitars and thus slid into a rut of repetition that felt as if it never went anywhere. The live drums that cover most of the first half of this disc would stop that from happening, because the shifting, more idiosyncratic rhythms give the tracks greater propulsion than earlier works had.
This is not quite as necessary as it could have been on previous stuff, because although the elements of drone are clearly present, the tracks are more apt to switch up instrumentation and layering to give a greater dynamicism: “Sign-Expressions” clocks in as one of the longer tracks, but the layers of treated guitar continue to vary throughout, so although it is based on significant amounts of repetition, the subtle changes go a long way.
There is also a notable amount of divergence from the norm and variety going on, the aforementioned “Sign-Expressions” opens with a sluggish rhythm section from an early Swans record, but picks up the pace as the track goes on an adopts an almost jazz quality that is definitely different, but still fits in nicely. The shorter “Affective Fields” is an even greater stab at trying something different, as it is almost entirely focused on the bass and drums, the guitar and noisier elements remaining hidden deep in the mix, giving the track more of a dub quality than most.
The last two, “Uneasy Desire” and “Deterritorialization” are more “traditional” Nadja, and from the sound of things they dusted off the drum machine for these two. However, the programming is appreciably diversified, and the careful layering and looping of guitars and effects are more varied and composed than other works. The latter even delves more into abrasive industrial textures that are more overt than on other tracks.
Admittedly, I’d still prefer a slightly different color to the guitar effects: they remain too caught in the mid-frequencies and just feel a bit anemic, that is purely a matter of personal preference, and in this case it is hardly a detriment with so much else going on around it. While I approached this album with some cynical trepidation, I definitely came out proved wrong in a good way.
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