This is a review for Monday mornings - just a few words spotlighting an under-the-radar album for you to bookmark before heading into another busy week. We almost missed this drop from Whitelabrecs (a favorite label of ours), so we decided to hastily publish a post to make sure it doesn't slip past you. Listen to it now or save it for later, but we think that you'll appreciate the piano-based melodies on Nebel lang's Hand in mine. We certainly did. And hey, Piano Day 2021 is coming right up - all the more reason to celebrate this excellent release.
The album is essentially comprised of two longform improvisations (after a 19-second opening track meant to situate the listener). The first piece is absolutely magnificent, swelling up and down over the course of 27 unbroken minutes. It feels just like its title - a sigh, or rather a long series of breaths. The second piece is shorter and more sparse, the artist making use of repetition and silence. Interestingly, Hand in mine was performed on a self-tuned piano and was the artist's reaction to a very specific environment, so wishful listeners will be sad to hear that the music will never be recreated live. This album simply documents a single moment in time. Like another DC favorite from a few months back, we can appreciate Nebel lang's work as a candid Polaroid, preserving a time and place never to be visited again.
Find Nebel lang's Hand in mine through Whitelabelrec's Bandcamp page now, and hear the aforementioned Sigh below.