Nathan Koch of Chicago Illinois is the brainchild behind the electronica project Emulsion. Using 8-bit synthesizers and subtle sweeping melodies he’s crafted some truly wondrous ambient songs. Fans of electro and IDM will find something to like here. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I just need some simple deep music to relax too. The songs evoke the kind of feeling that something important is about to happen, like a drug test ala Firestarter where people get extraordinary abilities like telepathy from a drug that may or may not kill them.
I’d really like to see these songs with some visuals, each time I listen to a song I imagine a new thing, like right now the track “King of 1998″ off of the new album “Blue Sky Objective” might call to mind a patch of flowers sprouting, growing, flowering, dying, and decomposing on loop over the course of 3 years or a city street done in stop motion photography for a week with people blurring past. Try thinking of your own visuals, it’s fun. The synths, handclaps, and spare garbled over processed vocals combine to make some truly ethereal and above all honest sounds. Even though all of the sounds are electronic, there is a stark sincerity to them. I’m not sure if the masterful production or the hauntingly simple melodies that evoke the feelings of childlike wonder, but they both work together to make a surprisingly satisfying result.