Track Premiere: Brett Naucke “The Glass Shifting”

I’ve been an admirer of Brett Naucke’s work for well over a decade now and his growth as an artist and composer in that time has been incredible. On October 1st, he will release his latest, and his most ambitious, album Mirror Ensemble, on American Dreams. Naucke opens a wormhole to new sonic dimensions on “The Glass Shifting,” weightlessly gliding across electronic vistas.

Initial arrangements for Mirror Ensemble were composed using MIDI by Naucke while he worked in close collaboration with Whitney Johnson (Matchess, Damiana) and Natalie Chami (TALsounds, Damiana) to further flesh out the compositions. Once the pieces were written, the trio replaced all the sounds with real instruments. The effect is visionary, but bathed in a sea of warm tones and inviting ambiance. On “The Glass Shifting,” slow-motion rhythms light dense bass drones, giving Johnson and Chami’s dueling vocals, operatic and ephemeral, a launchpad. 

Synthetic aural dreams rise like lanterns to the sky, (Lex Luger’s signature sound effect even makes an upcycled appearance), the air percolating with intricate tonal patterns, and Johnson’s viola adding generous texture. This is orchestral music from the future.

Mirror Ensemble is out on October 1st via American Dreams.


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