nu & apaVery complex manufacturing of music here, I use the word manufacturing because I can imagine a quite complicated and convoluted creation process. The sense and feeling of the record is very east, obviously so as this is a Romanian group that list their influences as ranging from Romanian and Asian folk music but here we have a heavily nod to "Krautrock". This record is very trippy and somehow settling whilst at the same time unnerving, the mix of Asian sounding flutes and delicate bells with strong electronics is very complimentary and emphasizes the overall trippy-ness. The 70’s vibe is strong and characterised in many places by the reversing of recorded guitars and other string instruments - a beepy, eastern, pulsey, reversy krautrocky trip factory indeed. My highlights include "Pneumatic Cobzar Player" with it’s looped, obscure vocals and shawm sounding instrument at the start. The electronics then drop in to dislodge whatever our preconceptions of these traditional sounding instruments were. Titletrack "Omag" is super tasty as well. The structure is pure scenic, it played in my head a scene from some sort of eastern horror film, not the scary monster kind of horror film, but the psychological, mind-fuck thing. The contrast between the distant vocal and the bubbling arpeggiator is just sublime, all other electronics gradually thicken the audio texture and close in on the gap between the vocal and themselves. We then move back into the park and something’s brewing, I’m never sure what but the mood is definitely unsettled. Sometimes I felt safe but then times the tides are turned and it’s back to the unknown. Silence seems so far away. This record is definitely one for the hemp trouser wearers and the smokers. Or alternatively of course for those that would like to reminisce about those crazier days that the 70’s inspired. One negative point is the way the tracks end, mostly with a fadeout and mostly in an undefined way but the fadeout is a moot point and a separate debate in itself. One for another time methinks.
:: Nu & Apa Neagra/Omag - LSCD 08/lollipopshop.de.
