Cenizas - Nicolas Jaar: Review:
is a Chilean-America musician who first emerged in 2011 with his experimental breakout electronic music record Space Is Only Noise. Since then he has released a second record under his own name, a collaborative project with Dave Harrington under the Darkside name, and two lo-fi house records under then Against All Logic name.
Review By Lavender:
Nicolas Jaar has been a name I've been keeping my eyes on for years. Despite the fact that I didn't love his second studio record Sirens in 2016, I have enjoyed just about everything else he has done. From his excellent debut that narrowly missed my best albums of the decade list, to his cerebral gorgeous Darkside project, and his production work on the recent FKA Twigs album Magdalene. Not to mention an album that did make my albums of the decade list, Against All Logic's 2012-2017, which got a follow-up earlier this year that I also loved and has been one of my favorite records of the year so far. Despite all of this I was still a little worried because I didn't love the last Nicolas Jaar record, and my hesitance turned out to be justified. This record is fine and I like a lot of it, but it doesn't hold up to Jaar's side projects.
This record is an incredibly disjointed series of sounds that makes the order and arrangement of these tracks pretty menial. But when good songs come up they are always experimental groundbreaking and incredibly entertaining. Vanish is a warped, distant and very dark ambient opener that works in some loud keys and haunting vocal samples to make for a dark and swelling tone setter I quite enjoy. The title track Cenizas is another treat with some planky echoed keys paired with soft but omnipresent vocals hanging in fragile balance. The song flashes some moments of sweetness but is mostly a powerful and confounding piece that is dark and intimidating in a way I love. Mud is the longest song of the bunch and thankfully I absolutely adore it. There is a harrowing lead vocal passage that surrounds a driving two-step percussion beat to give the song a much more tangible feeling than many of the others here. The song is winding and punchy as well as sonically and textually dense which makes it a big highlight.
Hello, Chain is a strange track that comes in multiple phases starting with the chilling choral style vocals leading into a really interesting switch-up. The second half of the song features much more rhythmic vocal samples and the pairing of the two together is instantly compelling and worthwhile for another big highlight. Garden is a five minute long piano passage that walks a super interesting line. The track is blissful but oddly foreboding with the distant poundings never truly letting you settle into the beautiful piano passage. The song is really interesting and has me both on the edge of my seat and on the verge of relaxing. The final highlight is the closing track Faith Made Of Silk which hits right away with some rap percussion and cloudy production. Part of the track pushes into an indie rock sound that is super interesting the way Jaar does it and the walls of synths and genuinely sweet vocal passages are a wonderful closing moment for the record.
Occasionally the record dips into short avant-garde jazz inspired pieces that I'm not really sure what to make of. Agosto and Rubble definitely stand out in the tracklist with their warped and manipulated brass instrumentals, its only because the record is so disjointed and jerky in its progression that Jaar can get away with using such bold tracks as interlude moments. Gocce is a sonic collage style track but one that I think has some worthwhile stuff. The track is built around a slick bassline and while not all the sounds are great there is at least some galloping percussion and sliding keys that I enjoy. Vaciar is another short piece that is almost completely texture driven and is a welcome interlude to the record.
There aren't really any tracks I flat out don't like but there are a few with some big problems. Sunder is a spoken word track that kind of reminds me of Nick Cave, there are some compelling lyrics that can be quite visual. The instrumental however is surprisingly simple at its core and the song just dips out for no reason totally randomly at the end. Xerox is a weird stagnant sound collage and while I like the first half of the song the textures become more distant and isolated in the second half and the song just feels like it goes on forever. Funny enough my least favorite track on the record is the only one we got to hear before its release Menysid. The track is much more reserved than most of the others here and the track doesn't have any progression to pair with some of its unique sonic or textural moments.
Cenizas is pretty good and it would be much more celebrated if not for the name attached it. While it may not be one of the best works Nicolas Jaar has ever dropped it is still remarkably impressive how much quality material he has dropped in such a short time recently, and this record will certainly be one of the best experimental electronic and ambient albums of the year when all is said and done. 7/10
