Nadja :: Excision

With all the cuts released earlier on vinyl between 2007-09 and now out of print, Nadja’s (Aidan Baker & Leah Buckareff ) Excision works not only as a more available outlet for these cuts, but as a great 2 disc set on its own. Everything holds and bleeds together without sounding like a cobbled together set of previous releases. Excision is, as you’d expect, hefty and expansive, covering lots of ground and creating a dense atmosphere full of rolling detail and texture that despite its size is never oppressive or insular. Blurring the lines between doom and ambient, Nadja slow cook a sound that is both heavy and surprisingly afloat, made obvious by how comfortable a collection of earlier releases all blend together to make their own statement. Their gradual climbs and controlled releases ebb and flow from cut to cut filling Excision with slow dynamics without stripping away the emotional punch of each one. It would be easy for all this to become just a foggy pall more than a statement, but Nadja keep it snaking and winding while it also grows more expansive. Excision may function as a more readily available collection of out of print releases, but it works more importantly as an expression of what Nadja can do and who they are.

Perichoresis :: Nadja :: Excision (2012, Important Records)