(https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3635093408_16.jpg)
https://nopartofit.bandcamp.com/album/simulacrum
Nital Etch is a project out of Washington State, from a town considered by many to be a truly dreadful place. It is a morally, spiritually, and economically desolate landscape. The sound of Nital Etch seems to confirm that: One man with strings and some pedals creating the soundtrack to a nonexistent film, probably envisioning an unidentified rotting corpse lying dead in a ditch, only to be discovered months later because no one missed them.
Hyperbole aside, I honestly think that this project would be doing movie soundtracks if it weren't for all of the schmoozing involved. Incisions or Obsolescence are pieces that could have been used for the score to the Joker movie. The avenues of (dark) ambient, classical, and experimental electronics explored here can carry the rawness for a noise show, or the aptitude to present as an opener for Pamelia Kurstin. Simulacrum is a collection of highlights from previous recordings to date, all of which have yet to be released into the physical realm.
https://criticalmassesmedia1.wordpress.com/2020/08/27/no-part-of-it-new-cd-batch/?fbclid=IwAR1zrzpBE39FXePjiAnYVKSnuDZwyPNJ0_P-y_9Adl1dYmifFu2Btp9zyyk
Haunting – that's the best way to describe Nital Etch's Simularcrum, and Arvo goes out of his way to suggest that the artist from the state of Washington would be scoring films if not for his distaste in "schmoozing." (Alvo also suggests that the soundtracks would be to forgotten rotting corpses, so it's not like we're talking blockbusters here.) Mournful hums and lonesome strings lead us into the center, where noise roils over the repurposed instructional video-speak of "Barbara," then Badalamenti shows up in an Argento film. So maybe it's not just rotting corpses after all! (Although please explain why there seem to be so many ribcages in the cover art.) I'd include something from this in all my PBS Mystery! episodes if I was allowed back in my local affiliate's building. (Don't ask, long story.)
Reviewed in Vital Weekly:
http://vitalweekly.net/1249.html?fbclid=IwAR2PPy35mKaU86DcL6W_Ta7ydUY9g3uOReJbKsLsBlFIc1iShlXE7lSGd9M
Reviewed in Noise Receptor:
https://noisereceptor.wordpress.com/2020/10/07/nital-etch-simulacrum/
Reviewed by Lost In A Sea of Sound:
https://lostseasound.blogspot.com/2020/10/nital-etch-simulacrum.html
I'm doing my best to guess which desolate city in Washington state this artist is from. Once you hit the Cascades everything east of there is pretty damn desolate. I'm stranded in the central part of Washington state myself and it could describe where I am as well as all of the surrounding area.
I've worked with Kevin a bit - he played cello on my most recent folk release. He's originally from Everett but lived in Spokane and now Seattle. Very talented!
Yes, very talented. He didn't want me to say where he was from because he hated it so much, and it comes through in his work somewhat, I think.
Reviewed at Noctilucant vlog:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5G4GahuM0o