Nest - Body Pilot

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4...according to our Brian on Wed 07 Sep, 2011.

I really approve of the idea of someone from the Rainy Valleys (Wales) and the dark, cold forests of Norway collaborating. Especially when the Norwegian contingent is one-half of neoclassical/dark drone titans Deaf Center!! The CD ('Retold') these chaps had out on this very same label was an absolute gem and wasn't actually around for too long before you mental on-line shopping types went and bought them all. This new four tracker is a 10" vinyl job only which matches the other fine 10" releases Serein have put out very nicely. Nice graphic-designed sleeve, minimal fontage, etc. The tunes are lovely, gently unfurling classical/ambient/drone pieces (as to be expected) chock-full of longing, regret and melancholia. Savour, for instance, the proper sob-tastic lingering piano on track two! There's an implicitly powerful undertone throughout, particularly to the third track 'Koretz's Meteor' which I'm most enamoured with. This is where dark ambient drift meets the profoundly affecting glacial intensity of prime Biosphere or Thomas Koner in an orgasmic icy chasm. Don't try having an orgasm in an icy chasm however, you may get stuck in more ways than one. I think this is an EP meant for headphones or a quiet space that doesn't have boomy acoustics and people with long hair grappling with noisy tape guns. Even the sound of my fingers on this keyboard is annoying me and causing me to swear at myself for interrupting these zen-like swelling movements. Quality EP, quality label. Get involved drone-poppets!!

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Nest is the collaborative project of Huw Roberts (Wales) and Otto A. Totland (Norway). Using a combination of acoustic instruments, field recordings and sample manipulation, the two work together to create instrumental music linked closely with their environments.

While unmistakably a Nest record, the material on 'Body Pilot' marks a more restrained, pared back development of Nest's sound. The palette used to craft these pieces is sparser than on previous recordings, placing greater emphasis on the nuances and subtleties of each sound.

'Stillness' opens proceedings on familiar ground. Gently sustained strings rise from a near inaudible hum and are accompanied by slow, resounding piano notes. The pace is glacial, each sound unravels and unfolds in sequence painting a vivid picture of the record's opening scene. The muted greens of an open plain as it tapers into the distance and the pearl-white of the sky, featureless save the bas-relief of a distant mountain range. The landscape resonates in sympathy with the beckoning drone of a propeller engine.

On 'The Dying Roar', we find ourselves borne aloft amid turbulent skies. Brass and woodwind instruments swirl and eddy, growing in intensity until, like the ground disappearing below, they blur and fade into nothing. The engines are cut and we glide silently into the white. Solo piano plays out the piece and closes the first side of the record.

In sharp contrast with the pieces preceding it, "Koretz's Meteor" opens with the haunted drone of an electronic synthesiser. Unidentifiable sounds and effects clamour for space around the rising growl, sweeping from left to right, submerging and resurfacing. A camera shutter opens and closes, cicadas sing in the night, what could it be, that burns so bright?

'Body Pilot' comes to a close with 'The Ultimate Horizon', a detached, isolated piece of music. Sounds speed up and slow down like the on / off of a propeller, sub-bass rises and falls, passing above and below hearing level. The track fades as we travel beyond the infinite.