Roping in a powerful supporting forged for Continua, Nosaj Factor has put collectively a stunning and satisfying slab of moody electronica.

Launch date: October 28, 2022 | LuckyMe | Bandcamp | Web site

An empty highway within the Scottish highlands, black and white. This {photograph} by acclaimed music photographer Eddie Otchere isn’t simply the very first thing a listener would see upon interacting with Continua, the fifth album by Los Angeles digital music producer Jason W. Chung aka Nosaj Factor – it’s the very factor that impressed Chung throughout the drawn-out act of creation:

‘That is the primary time I labored backwards. I made a temper board and selected the picture on the file cowl earlier than ending the file. All of the collaborators on the file, I’d ship them a folder of demos together with the picture simply so they might sort of see the world of this file.’

Having been energetic beneath the Nosaj Factor moniker since 2006, Chung made a reputation for himself not solely by his personal (largely instrumental – this’ll grow to be a bit extra necessary in a second) releases, but additionally by his manufacturing credit for different artists, together with Child Cudi, Probability the Rapper, and Kendrick Lamar. This apparent affinity for hip hop has all the time coloured his explicit mix of assorted digital music types; there are all the time hints of jazz, wave, and r&b current on his information, too. Continua is his pandemic file, and a solution to the query of what his closing album would possibly sound like. Surprisingly, it turned out to be fairly the collaborative effort.

Certainly, this album has a powerful variety of visitor spots, from family names like Kazu Makino (of Blonde Redhead fame), Animal Collective member Panda Bear, or chillwave progenitor Toro Y Moi to aspiring artists like Duval Timothy. Continua, in consequence, is probably the most vocal-driven piece of labor among the many Nosaj Factor discography. Giving his collaborators quasi-free reign (‘I gave every artist about 4 or 5 concepts and allow them to select which one they gravitated in direction of’), Chung acted extra like a film director, pulling the strings within the background and deciding on the ultimate sequence of issues. Within the following, I want to level out three of my favourite tracks to come up from this methodology.

“Woodland”, that includes the inimitable serpentwithfeet, begins off with an virtually eerie drone, earlier than breaking out right into a left-field r&b monitor with a spacious beat and easy vocals. The lyrics are (purposefully?) obscure, as they might be addressed to each a lover or a magnanimous religious entity with out shedding any of their affect or mystique (‘Oh woodland, rife with want/ Present me your hand/ Make use of my hearth’). I’m merely enchanted by serpentwithfeet’s vocal efficiency – I imply, what else is new; the person’s voice is phenomenal – and the way in which Chung treats it with results at sure factors of the music is attention-grabbing to witness, like somebody tinkering with treasured stones and devices.

A reputation I all the time like to see pop up is Julianna Barwick’s. The ambient music singer/composer’s work has secured her a spot on my common rotation, so listening to her on different folks’s initiatives is all the time a pleasing shock. She quests on monitor quantity 5, “Blue Hour”, a wistful piece that pairs her ethereal vocals with minimalistic synths, bass drones, and a gentle beat. It’s not rocket science; the set-up is sort of simplistic, however the impact remains to be breathtaking. Nosaj Factor has beforehand produced a music on Barwick’s newest album, 2020’s Therapeutic Is A Miracle, and this new music proves that they complement one another very properly when working collectively.

Now right here’s a gaggle of individuals I by no means would’ve anticipated to seem on the identical monitor: Sam Gendel, experimental jazz saxophonist, genre-bending producer Slauson Malone, and vocalist Coby Sey, who has made waves with releases resembling this yr’s Conduit. These three, apparently placed on the identical Nosaj Factor monitor by the palms of destiny themselves (within the interview I quoted earlier, Chung described how they seemingly gravitated in direction of the identical music in an uncommon mixture of occasions), have loads of chemistry, so “Grasp” turns into an instantaneous spotlight. Floaty ambiance, bubbly bass, and laid-back sax underpin Sey’s chill however emotional vocal efficiency; one can’t assist however let themselves fall into the sheer vibes.

Continua is a targeted effort from Chung and his supporting forged, moody and atmospheric in nature, concurrently tight and free-flowing. The songs have interaction like gears in an engine’s transmission, but there’s a way of singularity to all of them. I think that is largely due to the various set of friends, as they naturally usher in varied distinctive flavors to convey out the most effective in Nosaj Factor’s particular recipe; undervaluing Chung’s personal hand in orchestrating and curating this assortment of expertise could be silly, although. He supplied them the sounds and context all of them drew from, in spite of everything. It’s clear {that a} agency imaginative and prescient has been established earlier than beginning to work on this album, and it paid off tremendously – Continua is a powerful and satisfying piece of digital music, maybe among the many better of Chung’s profession.