Molécule - Nazaré

January 17, 2020 - Ed Banger Records

Electronic adventure-composer Romain de la Haye-Serafini aka Molécule is back with an educational and inspirational look at Nazaré, Portugal. The legendary stretch of the Silver Coast is known for its high breaking waves, waves formed by the presence of the underwater Nazaré Canyon, waves surfed by record-setting and record-breaking surfers from all over the world, waves that put the power and scale of nature into perspective. 

Molécule and his personal recipe book of dark brooding techno connect quickly and strongly to such forays into harsh and formidable locales as Nazaré. 2015’s 60°43' Nord was recorded and composed on a fishing trawler in the middle of the North Atlantic over the span of five weeks. More recently 2018’s -22.7°C found the musician and his mobile studio near Tiniteqilaaq, Greenland, where he traversed the icy landscape for another five weeks collecting and composing. 

This ethos, this direct connection to audio stimuli and presence, is ever apparent in Nazaré. The Electronic and the Natural come (purposely) together like two large (considered) waves, crashing together but not clashing. The separation between white noise and wave noise becomes important and meaningless and important again; listening states flow in a similar fashion. At times the auditory swells become too much to focus on, the listener must let go and allow the sound to pass over. At these moments, Molécule brings back percussive elements, giving the listener a lifeline of beats to dance back to the surface with. The synths used throughout boarder on thalassophobia-inducing; rich, deep modulating echos bounce from the depths of an ocean trench, whale vocalizations pierce through the dark waters, sputtering hydrothermal vents spew volcanic ash. This audio palette is nothing new for Molécule’s productions, but he is adept at pairing his sounds with his environments to create new mental landscapes. 

‘Big Mama’ stretches forth with immediacy, filling the cavernous arches of a grand cathedral with ocean water and quickly building pressure for the rest of the project to work with. ‘1st Peak’ continues the suspense, adrenaline fueling the paddle up to the wave. Dark percussive momentum takes ahold of the latter half of the track. ‘Praïa Do Norte’ breaks with a crowd of voices laughing and chatting about waves, presumably. The track takes on a lighter emotion compared to the first two pieces. Tension builds and drops more frequently, carving down and cutting back. More voices are sprinkled throughout. It’s a party track with clear oceanic roots. ‘Réminiscences’ drops the mood a few fathoms. It’s the longest track on the EP, taking up almost as much time as the first three cuts. A moody arpeggiated synth group anchors the piece firmly in place as other noises, voices, and audio stimuli wash past. The beginnings of a melodic pad interlude swell up at the end of the track, but it loses the fight to the harsh and unyielding sound of the crashing waves. The club edit of ‘Praïa Do Norte’ heralds the end of Nazaré, offering a slightly longer and slightly more DJ-friendly cut of the original. 

Molécule has again brought two worlds together to great effect. The inner world and outer presence, the natural landscape and the imagined plane, the tactile feeling and the state of mind. These combinations make for strong material and it’s gratifying to follow such a combiner.🍍