I’m suffering from a bit of a disconnect on the first few listens to Emulsion’s new release. Nathan Koch’s project has gone from trawling dark subterranean places to being gravity-free and solar-charged. Blue Sky Objective is an 8-bit love affair with pretty, shining things. Reminiscent of Solvent’s electro-candy and jangly Game Boy melodies, Emulsion’s work is flush with child-like simplicity and innocence glee.
In “Smeared Bus Window,” tiny melodies chime and cascade like sunlight on water while tiny hands make tinier clapping sounds. “King of 1998″ gutters with a straight-on beat, a gritty drum kit playing out in the backyard while a pair of youngsters pile on chords from small organs. It is like eight-year-olds doing a rock show for the dog and maybe the neighbourhood stray cat and, after a minute and a half, their attention span wanders off to other things. “Ukidama” is similarly brief, a glowing melody that rises up towards a twilight sky where a few stars are twinkling.
With its winsome synthesizers and dour undercurrent, “All Robots Are on Sale!” mixes both the elation of a fast-paced commercial environment with the melancholic drift of separation. Robots are selling briskly, marching smartly out the door in time with the drum kit and metallic hand-claps, but they’re all a little uncertain about their futures. Will they find nice homes? Will they work in strip mines or waffle factories? They’re happy to serve, to have purpose, but they go with a little apprehension. “Tweeism” is a bit of lounge fluff, a torch song for an 8-bit diva who disappears when she turns sideways; while the glitch percussion of “Shapes and Colors” gambols like an old man shot full of Cortisone. Behind him, a bank of water fountains shoot multi-hued streams into the air, firing off in precision concert. An orchestra of children dressed in taffeta play kid-sized plastic instruments…okay, now I’m making shit up. But Emulsion’s music sends me there without any effort.
Koch succeeds admirably in his “pie in the sky” objective of making music filled with carefree enthusiasm and the wanton wistfulness of childhood. Blue Sky Objective is winsome without being saccharine, innocent without a hint of guile or cynicism, and the sort of thing that will crack a smile in a stone. - Mark Teppo