NICOLAS BOUGAÏEFF has shared the video for ‘
We Rejoice,’ directed by
Paul Broese and
Christian Pomerleau. The track is taken from his new album for Mute,
Begin Within – out on vinyl, CD and digitally.
Begin Within embodies huge musical and personal evolution for Bougaïeff, who finds himself working on entirely new sonic terrain, using his voice as an instrument for the first time.
“It's the sound of me grappling with transformation,” he explains.
The role of the voice adds a new dimension and dynamic to the shape, tone and groove of the album and is also symbolic of Bougaïeff quite literally finding his own. With voice featured on each track, sometimes distorted and treated as it coalesces into fractured beats, at other times it’s more obvious, and clear, this vocal element allowed him to explore personal stories and narratives,
“A major theme is ‘intimate Berlin stories’,” he says
. “It's about several breakups, some recent, some not so. I opened myself up emotionally and I learned to speak about my emotions. It may sound strange, but this was just something that I didn't do before.” These intimate Berlin stories are manifested in field recordings from nights out - at locations such as the Berghain bathroom - recreating crepuscular adventures.
Although this is an album rooted in emotion, personal transformation and communicating new feelings, it’s an intelligently crafted piece of work. Bougaïeff is, after all, a hugely experienced composer who has studied electroacoustic composition and has a doctorate on minimal techno.
“On ‘Begin Within,’ the beginning is in the middle, and the music radiates out from there, so if you listen to the title track in forward and reverse it's the exact same thing. ‘Inner Pattern’ is a polytemporal locked groove in the first half, which unfolds in the second half.”
Musically the album is an eclectic one, veering from glitchy IDM to immersive ambient, and from experimental pop to jagged electronica and throughout, the sound of transformation, both musical and personal, is something that is inescapable.
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