Nathaniel Young - Accosting Form, Pure Intent

Mysteries of the Deep

£10.80

Format: LP
Catalogue No.: MOTDLP005
Barcode: 4251648412854
Release Date: 22 Apr 2022
Genre: Electronic/Ambient

* Tracklist:
A1. Limitation Without Direction
A2. Zion Waits For No One
A3. Comfort In Form
A4. Recessed Constraint
B1. Communal Dysphoria
B2. Extrasolar
B3. May I Speak Candidly
B4. Graying Dawn

"Accosting Form, Pure Intent" — Nathaniel Young’s new album for Mysteries of the Deep — is a contradiction that makes sense. At once raw and elegant, it emerges from a place of constraint and desire. Its individual tracks reflect this paradox as the album unlocks itself like a koan: a riddle that, once solved, dawns on the listener like an epiphany.

Metallic emanations in "Communal Dysphoria” and “Comfort in Form,” interpolated with echo and reverb, arise from the void and disappear back into it, moving like scattered precipitation over rugged, rhythmic terrain. Certain tracks speak to certain influences: in “Extrasolar" and “May I Speak Candidly,” drone is tempered by synth pads and wistful ambience. “Zion Waits for No One” brings to mind a sense of the Chthonic: a dark, primitive creature submerged. A monster from the loch that at times breaks through the still, watery surface.

Despite the assorted elements at work, a visceral quality binds everything together. Even the record's more subdued works are textured and tangible, at times balancing or playing against the serrated edges of its more structured pieces. Like all compelling works, the sounds here exist in a liminal space that is not entirely classifiable. Still, it is wholly cohesive in both its moodiness and its adeptness.