Nils Quak is a journalist who's unafraid to bury the lead - in his strikingly deep, spacious music, at least (his writing would leave my schoolboy German flat on its puny back...). The fine recent This Once Silver Sky - stream a couple of extracts, one downloadable & the full 30 minutes below - underscores how key accumulation is to his sound.
You could be forgiven for thinking the unfortunately-acronymed TOSS's single track, Quand Meme, was going nowhere, & none too fast either. But you'd be wrong. Around a third of the way in these ears twig a big payoff as initial drear, even desolation turns monumental & moving (those slow-motion fireworks, that muffled, rousing rise in tone). Eventually it flips into two lighter, more obviously lovely passages to bring us home to an explosive greeting.
The powerful trio of people dont live here anymore, To Feel Nothing & Leaving town - also below - work similarly. A scene-setting tone or two, a deliberate pace, a sense of gradually making out the cavern's contours - & suddenly illumination, a flaring of light & smears of colour, has crept up on you.
Hear further sleight of hand in the murkily reverberating Within Reach, Tanger at Night's self-deconstruction & the fuzz-shedding If it would be different at all. Below try the sumptuously juddering, evidently Twerked Balconies & Backyards too...
More at Nils' website, SoundCloud & Bandcamp, as well as his blog & Twitter.
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