Grab A Calculator And Fix Yourself

Nicolas Jaar “Space is Only Noise If You Can See”

Sometimes when I am alone I sing to myself. I find a snippet of melody that I like and follow it where it takes me — sometimes it’s just a loop, other times it keeps rambling and changing to the point that I can’t recall where I started. I make up the words as I go along and sometimes get surprised by what comes out from my unconscious mind. I do this when walking around, just quiet enough that no one can hear, though sometimes they do and I don’t care. For the first minute of this composition, Nicolas Jaar sounds like he’s doing that, quietly singing to himself phrases that spill out of his head, following the melody in circles. But then it shifts. There’s an amazing keyboard bass line that comes in, the kind of sound and melody that would feel natural on a James Murphy track. Then it keeps going — the vocals multiply and tangle as the arrangement gets deeper and richer, and somehow it never stops sounding lonesome and spacious. There are phrases that stick out, that don’t quite make sense but have a powerful resonance. I think I get what this guy is thinking and how he felt when he made it. It feels familiar to me, anyway.

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