Naucke Naucke.
Who’s there?
A topiary dreamworld unfolds, at first from the perspective of the insects in your garden; evolving, as the magic of the rural setting expands and nourishes the senses, the spirit becomes buoyed and opens up to the possibilities of a new day: a new life.
Thus, Brett Naucke’s new release, The Back of the Garden, introduces the new batch of tapes from Unifactor, a February drop to kickstart the thaw cycle as spring approaches. “A Bronze Entrance” of the sun pokes itself over the landscape, which shakes the frost and blooms triumphantly in the morning mist. This is only the beginning, and as Naucke and cohorts Dominic Coppola and Forest Management attest in their respective releases, the light that penetrates the human heart/mind/body/soul/whatever serves as a cognitive cleansing agent.
Naucke’s no stranger to these TMT pages, so you superfans will be familiar with his crystalline synthesizer formations. That’s not to sell The Back of the Garden short by any means — Naucke continues to perform at a peak level, which I’ve measured with the most scientific of scientific equipment, so the results are solid. I mean, you could slather yourself with non-peak Naucke1 and the contact high would still situate your mind in some serene locale. Point is, The Back of the Garden is exactly where you want to go, anytime, regardless of season.
Peep a preview:
… Oh, you thought there was going to be a joke in there somewhere? I don’t even know if “Naucke” is pronounced “knock” or not, I’ve never heard it said out loud. So… shrug?
Maybe I’ll make a joke about Dominic Coppola, something about his relationship to Nicholas Cage perhaps2. I mean, Honeymoon Phase, Honeymoon in Vegas? It writes itself!
But kindness (or good sense) intervenes, especially as Honeymoon Phase descends like blossoms on the breeze at the conclusion of an outdoor wedding ceremony. Serene, pastoral, tranquil, the culmination of a shared life expressed outwardly. The best part of the best part.
But that’s just the initial connection, the draw to wrap the sounds of this tape around you like you’re in love with your surroundings. Coppola eschews biographical imprint, instead exploring how sounds and tones descend toward one another and intermingle. Each track feels like a billowing cloud of synthesized atoms descending to earth from a great height, their infiltration into the atmosphere an all-encompassing feel-good narcotic.
But as “Springtime Blossoms in Silk (You Won’t Last Forever)” suggests, Honeymoon Phase has to end sometime. This is as good a spot as any, I guess.
Ol’ Dom’s preview’s next:
Something something, pastoral, tranquil, springtime — we good on this theme yet? Forest Management (a.k.a. John Daniel) does his far-out drone thing, like he’s done on his many previous releases. Still the master of capturing the mood of the wild outdoors, Daniel infuses Rotating Angle with wonder, a palpable sensation that matches Naucke and Coppola in otherworldly beauty.
Imagine yourself as a camera panning slowly from a great height across big-sky states, and try to contain your awe. Or picture yourself hovering a few feet above the forest floor as you pass through dense trees in the Pacific Northwest and try not to lose yourself in the scenery. Some people lose themselves in the scenery. They become forest people.
Woops, wrong gif. Here you go.
Last, but not least:
1. Existence unlikely, according to these readouts.
2. DISCLAIMER: Dominic Coppola is probably NOT related to Nicholas Cage, who’s also a Coppola (for the need-to-knows).
More about: Brett Naucke, Dominic Coppola, Forest Management
