Nadja: Desire in Uneasiness on Crucial Blast

March 31st 2008, by Tobias |

Amidst a concerted effort of re-releasing their entire backcatalogue, Canadian Doomsters Nadja are preparing for an album of all new material. “Desire In Uneasiness”, a collection of five stretched-out instrumental works, is now slated for 8th April on Crucial Blast Records. The artwork to “Desire in Uneasiness” was commissioned by Nadja’s guitarist Aidan Baker from his personal friend The Reverend Altor. “Aitor's bright, bold lines and textured magic marker artwork gives the gatefold jacket we've presented this disc in the look of a twisted children's book on acid”, Crucial Blast stated in their announcement of the disc, “with weird images of chickens, trees growing through chairs, and more. The package is a sturdy 4-panel gatefold jacket printed by Stoughton, and it looks killer.” For anyone willing to order the album solely on the strength of previous Nadja output and before 3rd April, Crucial Blast has prepared a little treat. The special limited “Desire In Uneasiness Preorder Package” will contain a 1" pin and a limited-run Nadja t-shirt design created specifically for this preorder. It will not be reprinted again once all preorders are received.

Musically, “Desire in Uneasiness” might be of slightly less epic proportions than in its immediate precursor “Radiance of Shadows”, but follows down a similar stylistic path. Through years of interacting, the band has worked out how to create enough tension for their drones and riffs to do without vocals and how to build unique tension archs by combining deep doom pieces with more subdued and psychoactive tracks.

While the opening two pieces, “Disambiguation” and “Signs-Expressions” tend towards the heavier side of Nadja, the wounded dream “Affective Fields” and the experimental “Uneasy Desire” have a blisfully depressive mood to them. While Crucial Blast may be overstretching things a little by referring to Jazz and Dub (at least judging from the extensive pre-listening excerpts), “Desire in Uneasiness” certainly touches on various genres effortlessly and in an exciting way.

Homepage: Nadja
Homepage: Crucial Blast Records