Norwegian duo Deaf Center (Erik Skodvin and Otto Totland) are responsible for some of the most compellingly gloomy of neo-classical productions, dense walls of ambient strings shifting like weeping fjords. Nest, the duo of Totland and Huw Roberts, explores similar concerns with a broader instrumental palette, and emotional range, coloured with shades of Jon Hassell’s Fourth World ethno-mysticism. Strings and horns augment sparse piano arrangements, resonating like an ECM recording, and Welsh harp, all draped in layers of processing.
In lighter moments, such as the opening ‘Lodge’, the piano dawdles like Harold Budd, with cinematic touches care of a Morricone-esque harmonica. ‘Kyoto’, not surprisingly, explores Eastern themes, diatonic piano dunked in aqueous effects, strings and plucked dulcimer recalling a Zhang Yimou film. ‘Cad Goddeau Revisited’ is weightier, velvety pads dripping in reverb, highlighting sharp Murcof-like dynamic cuts, while ‘Trans Siberian’ is defined by a sibilant, spacey drone over which glass is rattled and piano notes fall like snowflakes. The latter half is more claustrophobic, from the industrial gloom of ‘The Helwick’ to the hurdy-gurdy whine of ‘Far From Land’, but the final ‘Amroth’ is massive, vast treacly pads and rumbling static like Pop Ambient’s darkest moments. As strong as Nest’s arrangements are it’s the production that really stands out, refined to the point of exhaustion, revealing a clarity that is entirely contrived but always engaging.
Joshua Meggitt
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