Nadja "Body Cage"
Aidan Baker's darker side project returns with a powerful and emotional release.

"Body Cage", the latest release by Aidan Baker's project Nadia, is a fascinating piece of work influenced by the condition Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva, a rare illness where muscles and connective tissue slowly turn to bone ultimately causing immobility. By way of slowly buidling tension, a sense of dread and unease, the disc succinctly and powerfully captures the fear of one's body slowly becoming a prison. Powerful and emotive, "Body Cage" is most certainly an example of uneasy listening.

"Clinodactyl" begins the disc, a slow expansion from minimal sound sources gradually building in strength as the song progresses, ultimately becoming a wall of sound, a dark monolith of droning feedback and percussion. It's frightening piece, but a truly beautiful one nonetheless.

"Autosomal" follows, opening with a writhing snake-like piece of guitar work playing overtop a sparse hi hat rhythm that gradually evolves into a percussive barrage. As I listen to it I can't help but feel this is a track that truly captures a feeling of claustrophobia, one that encapsulates all the phobia inherent in that state of mind. Chilling.

The final track "Ossification" begins with a repeated arpegio loop and an alternately climbing and receding drone. As the piece progresses, tones shift and mutate around eachother, weaving and interplaying in subtle ways to become something completely different from it's original component pieces.

Throughtout the disc, one can't help but feel the gradual loss of control of the body, the slow imprisonment that comes from progression, a sense of sheer helplessness. Aidan Baker has proven himself in the past to have a tremendous ability to create music that leads his listeners in terms of sensation and experience. With "Body Cage" he has progressed beyond that level of talent and added a physical component as well. Truly a moving and emotional work from a master manipulator of the senses.

rik - ping things