Ruins of Morning

This is a nice but rather odd bit of vinyl (I wish people would stop doing exclusive vinyl records); one of the better Nadja releases of the year but also one of of the strangest. A quick and adequate description for the Nadja/Aidan fanboy would be that the first half sounds exactly like a bit of Aidan solo work, and the next half is effectively a cover of that done by Nadja circa '04.

The first twenty minutes or so is a nice, but very overlong bit of ambience; little in the way of Nadja's spikey tones and much more of the seething, goopy murk that's reminiscent of Aidan's many million solo releases. A quiet, uneasy, not-really-fitting-into-any-key chord progression that quietly crawls in and then proceeds to stare at you for ages. I can't honestly tell if I like it or not, to be honest; it is a nice soundscape but the progression throughout this section is truly glacial. You need dedication, that's for sure.

Things brighten up when around the half way mark a burst of Only Shallow-esque drums herald in a bit of noise-making. I assume it's just the vinyl but the warm, murky and not very layered production really makes this sound like it's one of the first Nadja releases, fitting somewhere between Skin Turns to Glass and Corrasion or something. It's not of the quality of those enigmatic, shimmering early releases but when it's all said and done it does sound rather good; the usual drones bordering on noise replaced by much more chilled guitar lines and big rhythm guitars chugging away. Er, for a few minutes anyway, as it's not long before a long, relaxed chords, reversed guitars and mellow synths/organs begin filling gaps and we're back to the ambient.

I'm rather torn on just how much I like this. The outro to the whole thing is sublime, and certainly this has some good moments. Forty minutes of this stuff is a lot to ask of anyone, though; this is definitely Nadja's mellowest and most reflective yet and it does get rather minimalist. Still, it's a nice change for the last million or so sound alike releases he's done. Worth having a look at it, definitely, if you're already a fan.