Review Summary: Crushingly gorgeous soundscapes.
Here’s the deal: I had never heard anything from Nadja before getting Desire In Uneasiness, I had heard about them from people, heard a lot of praise and read a lot of good things. They always sounded a bit daunting to me though, much like a lot of drone music can be. By the descriptions I read about Nadja they also seem like a bit of a love / hate band, which after my first encounter with them, I can safely agree with. Luckily, I find myself safely on the love side of the spectrum, I’ll say it now before I begin to meander on, Desire In Uneasiness is an amazingly enchanting album, and one which I have found myself further and further fascinated with.
It often amazes me how little things can make a huge impact on songs, with Nadja, that is taken pretty much as a philosophy in the song writing. There is nothing really dramatic in any of the five musical pieces here, no big changes to shake up the flow; instead, each song just flows naturally, slowly but surely changing little things and adding tiny little nuances into the sound. It is this compositional approach that makes Desire In Uneasiness compelling in its execution and delivery, and in essence what makes it such a good album. The songs themselves don’t seem to change or develop much upon first impression, but upon further listening you’ll find that songs change very significantly from their first halves, but it is done in such a way that you barely even notice, entranced completely by the crushingly gorgeous soundscapes that this album creates effortlessly.
Despite what it may first appear, this album is also very varied. From the gradually developing mid-tempo journey that is “Sign-Expressions” to the quiet and beautiful “Affective Fields”, every song here has its own identity, with only the opener being less interesting, even that though is still worthy of a listen thanks to the haunting melodies that are layered underneath the droning noise which dominates the song. Each of the songs are over seven minutes long, with the three longer ones coming in at around the fifteen minute mark, this length is entirely necessary and worthwhile with the way Nadja composes their songs, the slow and gradual nature of them demanding time to fully develop.
The true beauty of Nadja lies within the intricacies of their compositions, the way a melody will introduce itself underneath the layers, gradually fade away and then come back when the song gets into full swing, the way that the first few notes of the next song actually begin to come in at the end of the previous one. It all comes together to create something that sounds brilliant, utterly absorbing thanks to the way that it is all produced and written so excellently. At first you might not notice these tiny little melodies and sounds underneath the first layers of the song, but when you have gathered what the song is about, these little bits will stand out, bringing another dimension to the songs.
Desire In Uneasiness washes over you like an ocean, each different bass line crashing against the canopy like another wave, the drumming like slow and heavy rain hitting the water upon which everything is formed. It all provides a very relaxing and captivating atmosphere, one that is very unique and enjoyable immediately. It is the middle three tracks which display this atmosphere best, while the first and last track gives it a prologue and epilogue, so to speak. In fact, both are significantly different from the middle of the album, and it only really works on the last one. After being lulled into a hypnotising state by the ending of “Uneasy Desire”, “Deterritorialization” is instead crushingly heavy. Tribal drums lead the way through sounds of heavily distorted and slow high pitched melodies, the intensity escalates throughout, every second only increasing the crushing feeling that it gives off, one of no hope, no escape. It truly is an amazing way to end an album that up to that point had been very relaxing and hypnotising, whereas now it is just completely destructive and dominating upon all that surrounds it; just like the ocean in the midst of a storm.
Despite all that I have said, it’s hard to recommend this to anyone or tell anyone to stay clear of it, as it is very personal music which will almost always be different to whoever listens to it. You cannot rate it on its technicality or its individual songs really, it’s just all about the way it makes you feel at the end of it and how you remember it. For me, I remember it for all those times I listened to it through the night on my headphones, all those sleepless nights where this was the only sound going through my ears, the way it made me feel so relaxed, so entranced and so enthralled all at once, the only way you can figure out what you think of this album is to listen to it for yourself, and when you do; really listen, there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye.
