UnchaineD - Gabbeh (2024)

Nathaniel Davis brings his long-running Unchained project to A Colourful Storm, muffling introspective guitar phrases and faint exotica beatbox loops with groggy, blissful effects. Like Loren Connors covering Stereolab, somehow. Since the early '00s, David has been carving out a niche for himself as Unchained, originally experimenting with noise and harsh electronics before pivoting to balmy, guitar-led bossa-influenced instrumentals. Based in DIY mecca Providence for years, he relocated to Grenoble in 2018, and 'Gabbeh' is unmistakably inspired by his warmer European surroundings. It's not an album that relies on field recordings, but there's French air just behind his bass and guitar jams that gives the album an extra dimension. On opener 'Largo', gusty environmental sounds swirl around hypnotic, restrained beats and Davis's 'TNT'-era Tortoise twangs, and on the title track, he sounds as if he's sitting outside, spying the landscape as he plays along to a beatbox in an adjacent room, whistling as he works. Cicadas buzz away in the distance, and the track comes to an abrupt stop. 'Gabbeh' is impressively unadorned. Davis processes his guitar and bass parts so they turn into a kind of sonic fudge, chopping the high end so we're left with muted, melodic phrases that can intermingle completely. There aren't many other effects, or even many other elements, but this particular process defines Davis's sound. It's most evident on the album's closing track 'Drac', where the faded chords pierce a humid cloud of tape noise and scratchy rhythms. If you listen closely, there's bass hidden somewhere, but everything's melted into raw, romantic slush that can't help but leave a lump in yr throat. Quite beautiful.

Tracklist:
1.01 - UnchaineD - Largo (9:16)
1.02 - UnchaineD - Dru (4:30)
1.03 - UnchaineD - Rond-Point (3:31)
1.04 - UnchaineD - Gabbeh (7:45)
1.05 - UnchaineD - Rambler (5:32)
1.06 - UnchaineD - Drac (6:49)