Nadja & Galena

It's about time we checked in on the music of Canadian-Berlin-based duo Nadja again. And as if to remind us of how much time has elapsed, Konstruktion, a collaborative full-length with Galena on the occasion of a joint 2011 tour, sounds nothing like one remembered the formation: The six pieces included on the a-side are marked by an extremely free (on the one hand) and industrially-machinal (on the other) approach, with the music oscillating wildly between free form and broken figments of tracks, between noise and expectant silence - even the ears of experienced Nadja-fans will be put to the test here. But although these pieces demand even more attention than usual, they have plenty to give in return, offering the reward of a gaze into remote possibilities. The allure of these potentials increases with each spin, as what seemed to be without structure gradually grows into an indivisible unit. The b-side, meanwhile, is anything but less paradoxical. And yet, it draws its fascination less from working with diversity and unwieldiness, but from a blend of typically Nadja-esque monolithic grandeur with a marching rhythm. Gradually, the latter is superimposed by a swaying, rolling polyrhythm, like an echo stumbling onwards into infinity. At the end of the ride, the coda beckons with a coolly placed, surprising reprise - quite a lot to digest for a single composition. Galena-mastermind Billy Sprague has designed the elegant dark cover with an equally intriguing inlay to this release, which adds another layer to the musical dimension. Definitely different – a real collaboration for a change. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.