Justin Nozuka - Ulysees '2014

Tracks list

Tracklist

01. Nest
02. Dreaming
03. Eyes Changing Colour
04. Blue Velvet Sea
05. Sweet Lover
06. Right By You
07. Iulius
08. Lull
09. Hera
10. Lucerne


When he first emerged in 2008, a then 18-year-old Justin Nozuka had an easy,
meditative grace about him that many singers spend their entire careers trying
to achieve. His soulful, meandering R&B-flavored songs took cues from artists
like Jeff Buckley and Lauryn Hill, and if he occasionally overextended his
sensitive, heartfelt crooning, it was still generally more subtle than a lot of
artists twice his age. Six years later, his third LP, Ulysees, shows that hes
not afraid to alter and develop his sound. The spare, ethereal Ulysees follows a
very distinct aesthetic, coming across more as a work than an album of songs.
Introduced by the lyricless choral piece Nest, Nozukas warm tenor voice suddenly
appears out of the darkness with the solo a cappella Dreaming before dovetailing
smoothly into its lush companion piece, Eyes Changing Colour. Barely six minutes
into the album, youre wholly drawn into his world of Eno/Lanois ambient-scapes
and distant dream-brother ballads. Accompanying himself throughout with gently
picked electric and acoustic guitars and lush choral sections, Nozuka has worked
hard to leave plenty of open space, often letting his guitar parts trail off
just as the vocals enter and vice versa. This type of understated, spatially
minded arranging is difficult to pull off and takes patience and thought, yet
somehow he stitches these ten unique pieces together so that absolutely nothing
feels unnecessary or out of place. The tone he sets is more mysterious and
warmly reflective than elegiac, and its easy to get lost in this austere work of
art. How he managed to unpretentiously transform himself from gentle soul-pop
balladeer to ambient semi-classical song composer is just part of the mystery of
this extremely talented young artist.

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