REVIEW: Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise

Nicolas Jaar
Space Is Only Noise
(out of 5)

Chilean producer, Nicolas Jaar makes you feel like you are swimming underwater. In fact, Space Is Only Noise has as much to do with feeling as it does with listening; it’s a multi-sensory experience that takes a while to grow, but wisdom knows that patience makes the heart grow stronger – which is what I find happening here. Jaar immediately conjures a natural soundscape in the aptly-titled ‘Être’, and la langue française is continued through ‘Colomb’ (and the record in its entirety). Despite my attempts to apprendre le français (man, I love Google Translate) the Franco storytelling makes no sense to me. This is not a really problem, as the kindly put-together minimalism speaks for itself; Jaar carefully uses unique studio techniques to help Space Is Only Noise tell its own story.

Along these lines, ‘Keep Me There’ strikes up bleak imagery through its casual use of voice manipulation, a fragile beat and sporadic saxophone lines. Its eerie mystery is consummated in the unofficial Lucas Duchemin-directed music video, hauling the viewer through a grim bad-cop-turned-worse tale set in the streets of Paris and surrounding country side. ‘I Got a Woman’ samples soul-pioneer Ray Charles – in fact the exact same sample as Kanye West used in ‘Gold Digger’ – but to a different beat altogether. Where Kanye pans out on sluts who use men for money (or whatever they can get their icky hands on), Jaar’s lush take on things paints an entirely different picture (the spoken French in the track makes it quite un situation tres romantique).

Nicolas Jaar - Keep Me There (The Unofficial Music Video)

Space Is Only Noise self describes; every element is placed for a reason, with the perpendicular silences as important as the sounds which cross them. In this regard, it shares similarities with recent work from fellow neo-noise-manipulator James Blake (it’s impossible not to make the comparison), and helps sets the precedent for where electronic music is heading. It’s minimal; quiet for the most part and certainly won’t be for everybody. On a pragmatic note, its organic fusion of jazz, dubstep, soul, and a network of other ambient genres is great for wiling away the seven-thirty-to-five. It works for me – I feel like I’m working under water. 

Written by Theo Sangster.