Emulsion (aka Nathan Koch) presents his debut CD “Blue Sky Objective”.
The style comes from his love of quite classic elements – electronica, IDM
and indie. This is not all though, as he also states a fondness for the old
8-bit gaming machines, so how have all those catchy Mario melodies guided
his musical development?
The interesting thing you notice when listening is the slight tinge of
melancholia that permeates a majority of these tracks. There is almost a
kind of yearning for those NES days, when everything was all a little bit
simpler. A good example of this is “Smeared Bus Window”; as well as the
typical glitchy (if somewhat slowed down) beats, there is a curiously soulful
keyboard melody – a little bit sparse, with a lot of retrospection. Couple that
with “Balloons and Centipedes”, and you start to get a picture of where
Koch is heading. The title track is a nice sample-and-slow-bass-driven mood
piece – it’s pleasant enough, though at least one of the melody lines
doesn’t quite fit in to the mood. This is something that becomes a concern
over the course of the long-player – I am not so sure that all the sounds
chosen are necessarily right for the mood being created – some sound a bit
too forward, and also a bit too much like presets.
“Without” is something I will keep listening to though, it is a lovely mixture of
natural sounds, vocal snippets and haunting melodies that stay with you
long after it is over; a definite sign of potential.
This album is something of a grower; it has some lovely little melodies in
there, which given time and patience, will make themselves present to you.
Not something that instantly sets you on fire, but also not something that
you will play once and file away in your collection. A little bit of tweaking
here and there, and some more considered sound choices and you will
have something quite interesting. Right now it’s a kind of diet “Boards of
Canada” – expect more sugar next time around. - Mike Whyte