nada #16 [live stream 12 december 2023] by Hervé Perez

 

Hervé Perez and his label nexTTime based in Sheffield, UK present a very special type of ambient music.

On the outside it may look like another label with relaxing meditative music that can be used in various ways but firstly and fore mostly as a basis or a background of something putting you in the right mood and frame of mind.

When Hervé encouraged me to listen to three sessions, I had a pretty difficult task on what should I focus my attention to understand it and give it a fair judgement. But since I have decided for a session from December 2023 I managed to notice a few major things that distinguish his work from others on seemingly similar shelf.

There is a sense of lucid dreaming trait that his records bear. However you will try - you will probably end up thinking that there is a deep sense of ecology and understanding the co-relation between the foreground and the background of music as such - he understands that perfectly and blends it even better. To put the listener in a seat of a protagonist and let him decide what is best.

The forms and techniques of composing those pieces remind me very much of Jeph Jerman as they utilize lots of environmental sounds but they are a bit dimmed down, glitched to the point of not being recognizable which gives them a sonorous feel. Which puts his music into the shelf of modern composition rather than straight up ambient music.

There is a deep sense of haunting and foreboding in this music but done in not so cheap way. Lucid way of feeling and expressing has its involvement here and you can clearly see it. 

The language of this work seems very elusive but I feel this is only a surface. As a matter of fact, those compositions are very well thought through and have lots of bits that can still surprise you.

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