BnB Review: Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise

Written by Youri Jozee

After last year's highly anticipated Time For US EP, the 20 year old New Yorker by way of Chile returns to Circus Company for the release of his debut album Space is Only Noise. Full analysis after the jump...

What is there to say about Nicolas that hasn't been said a hundred times before? Sure, he's among the most hyped artists out there, but there's no denying in the fact that this youngster is among the most gifted electronic producers of our time. Although he just got out of his teens, Nicolas' music sounds like the work of veteran producers with meandering melodies, slow-paced drums and enchanting keys being transformed into utterly stunning tunes that give the term 'crossover' a completely new definiton. Space Is Only Noise has become another tour de force on which melancholic bits of electronica, slow hiphop-esque beats, deformed samples and heavy bass roughly form the foundation, with the result being an otherworldy mixture of elements drawing from the entire musical spectrum.

Opening track 'être' opens the album with rolling waves, twisted vocal samples and haunting piano keys, after which 'Colomb' adds the first beats in the form of a moody, very minimal hiphop-infused track oozing with emotion. Over the course of the next tracks, Nicolas continues to experiment with a variety of instruments, skit-like interludes, emotive layers and themes, leading to beautiful tracks such as the mesmerizing 'Keep Me There' Space Is Only Noise If You Can See (check out the amazing vocals on this one) and the truly beautiful ambient-ish 'Almost Fell'. Amazing.  

Our verdict:
Space Is Only Noise stretches far beyond the conventional perception of an artist album. Each track has been produced with such elegance and a seemingly natural self-evidently logic that the end result is not only very balanced, but even more so narrative. The hype is once more justified: Space Is Only Noise is an early contestant for 'Album Of The Year'.

Rating: 9.0/10
Label: Circus Company
Release date: Out now

01-nicolas jaar-etre by Mifty

Tracklisting
01. être
02. Colomb
03. Sunflower
04. Too many kids finding rain in the dust
05. Keep me there
06. I got a woman
07. Problems with the sun
08. Space is only noise if you can see
09. Almost fell
10. Balance her in between your eyes
11. Specters of the future
12. Trace
13. Variations
14. ^tre

← BnB Review: Fabric 56 - Derrick Carter		BnB Review: FabricLive 55 - DJ Marky →

Tweet