[Click play above to stream Nathanael Larochette’s Earth and Sky in full. Album is out July 29.]

First thing to know about Nathanael Larochette‘s solo debut, Earth and Sky, is that it’s actually two albums. Presented across a pair of CDs, one dubbed Earth and the other Sky, the complete offering presents distinct looks between its component parts, as Larochette — the Ottawa-based guitarist known for founding chamber neofolk trio Musk Ox — explores intimate pastoralia via solo classic guitar throughout the six-part initial movement before compiling a massive, 41-minute drone simply called “Sky” for the second. The separation of these two musical personae is worth exploring in itself, and we’ll get there, but the fact that Earth and Sky‘s beginning is fractured, cut up into different pieces — like the land itself — while “Sky” is presented as one larger entity should say something about the conceptual basis on which Larochette is working.

His material is complex, and songs like “Monument” show a bit of the progressive tendency also demonstrated in the likewise new 36-minute single-song full-length from Larochette‘s progressive instru-metal outfit, The Night Watch, even if the project as a whole is more related to Musk Ox for its foundations in quiet acoustic contemplations, just taken to a more pared-back place sonically. “Sky” might be more lush with keys and effects and whatnot, but I’m not sure I’d call the Earth portion of Earth and Sky minimalist in anything beyond its just-guitar, no-vocals arrangement ethic. The textures Larochette brings to life across the six tracks — and really, the seventh as well — remain vibrant and evocative.

Larochette made his solo debut in 2012 with Threshold of Transformation, a 14-track outing melding guitar, glockenspiel, cello, etc. with his own spoken word performance. Obviously Earth and Sky is looking to show a different face these four years later, but a clear expressive undertone comes through nonetheless, bolstered by the clarity of the production and the natural body of the guitar. The presentation is not overblown by any means as “Awaken” slowly takes hold to start the album, but neither is it raw, as the longer stretches of “Oceanic” and the nine-minute “Invocation” demonstrate.

As Larochette weaves the material into and through technically and melodically complex movements without losing the emotional crux underlying, the light reverb on his guitar almost becomes a character in the play. Earth and Sky was recorded and mixed by Simon Larochette in Nova Scotia and London, Ontario, and I’m going to assume that the common last name between Nathanael and Simon is more than just coincidence. Earth and Sky sounds like it was made with a familial touch, and that helps carry through not only the musical flow, but the thematic feel and intricacy of composition as well.

Of course, 37-minutes of solo guitar followed-up by a 40-minute drone exploration is no small ask of an audience, but Larochette meets this fact head on with an easy flow and immersive ambience within his songs, so that when “Slumber” — which no doubt could just as easily have been called “Death” — rounds out the first disc, its sweet wistfulness is no less engaging than was the launch of “Awaken” at the outset. What comes next is the slow unfolding of “Sky,” a departure in form and atmosphere if not entirely in intent. Given that the entire release is instrumental and that its two parts are standalone guitar and an ethereal wash, one might be tempted to combine Earth and Sky‘s pieces, playing both at the same time.

I did precisely that — waiting until “Awaken” picked up about two minutes in before starting “Sky” — and found the impression that both halves made together a deeply rewarding listen. Larochette has referred to the two pieces as “complementary,” but I don’t know if that’s what he had in mind. Even so, with variation of volume and timing, it is another layer of depth added to a work that, on its surface, seems to be simple but ultimately has so much more to offer. Taken on its own, “Sky” brings forward a post-rock sensibility as a central electric guitar figure emerges from the surrounding undulations of tone, but as the two play out together, the experience seems all the more resonant.

Nathanael Larochette on Bandcamp

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Nathanael Larochette website

Tags: Canada, Earth and Sky, Musk Ox, Nathanael Larochette, Nathanael Larochette Earth and Sky, Ontario, Ottawa, The Night Watch

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 26th, 2016 at 12:44 pm and is filed under audiObelisk, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.