Nemesis: 1:4:9

Written by Steinar Larsen

last updated 2010-02-11 02:00 CET

Nemesis follows up their recent Gigaherz with a completely ambient album, mysteriously called 1:4:9 and created as the soundtrack to an art exhibition. The album is less conceptual and more evocative, but still rich enough to demand an hour of your focused listening time.

Music critique

Artist: Nemesis

Album: 1:4:9

Playtime: 01:04:11
Record label: Retroduction
Released: 2010

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The trio Nemesis, who will always be referred to as "the electronic music group from Finland" or something to that effect, recovers from the epic and wide Gigaherz with the more introspective and purely ambient album 1:4:9, on which the music was composed between 2003 and 2009 and in the usual Nemesis fashion, compiled, remixed and updated for this album (the CD is a limited edition of only 100 copies). Actually, these nine tracks were pulled together as the soundtrack for an art exhibition that took place in February 2010, but works extremely well on their own as a deep listening experience.

Wether you categorize this album as space music, ambient, new age or soundscapes is not relevant - or you can tick all of the above boxes - because what is being offered is 64 minutes of lyrical moods, ranging from drones and smooth pads to experimental sound sculptures. Never dark, like some ambient music, and never flirting with other styles like Berlin School or IDM, 1:4:9 leans more towards solitary panoramas and the contemplative. Some parts are almost religiously uplifting, without being sacramental, while other parts are more ghostly, but without any horror movie clichés.

The technical and musical quality is consistent throughout the album, and even though the tracks were composed over six years, they come out coherent, forming one long session that breathes and morphs and undulates just enough for the music to not become boring, stagnant or minimalistic. While minimalistic is a good thing to some people, 1:4:9 is sprinkled with beautiful details, wide sounds in narrow structures and spooky layered effects to the extent that it's nowhere near minimalism, even though it appears very low key and subdued. Taken simply as background music, the album will not disturb you but frankly, I cannot view this fine album as merely background music; yes, it's less conceptual and more evocative, but it is rich enough to demand an hour of your focused listening time, and get away with it.

By the way, the album title apparently refers to the album's playing time; one hour, four minutes and nine seconds (although my CD player says 11 seconds, but I'm not a nitpicker).