Nadja - Skin Turns to Glass

  by Sarah Maybank

published: 2 / 9 / 2008

Label: The End
Format: CD

intro

Borderline mood-enhancing doomy shoegaze rock on meandering latest album from Toronto-based duo, Nadja

Soundscapes’? Hideous word. It reminds us of those abstract paintings you see in art galleries. You know the ones. They’re always called ‘Untitled’, which is artist-code for, “I don’t have time to name this as I’m too busy invoicing gullible, credibility-seeking arrivistes like rock stars and Russian gangsters-turned-property developers. Instead of admitting that, however, I encourage the viewer to impose their own vision on my tawdry, paint-splotched canvases, making the suckers feel they’re actually part of my artistic ‘process’.” In our mind, they’re only doing half the work. Listening to this trio (three songs, 15 minutes each. Tres prog) of billowing, doomy shoegaze (doomgaze?) is like travelling through deep space, business class and via the scenic route. Overloaded with death metal squalling and coruscating distortion, you’d expect this threesome to be intense and mind-altering - or at least disconcerting, but the meandering pace, low-key, rolling percussion and probable use of chiming, pop music chords make it borderline mood-enhancing. And a lot more of a blast than abstract art. That’s it. We’ve imposed our vision. We’ve done half the work. Does that mean a fifty percent reduction at the till ?

Track Listing:-

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