Zemög – Nature Chants
(Huinali Recordings, 2021-11-26)
It wasn’t until 2019 that the world heard about the first production of Zemög; having created the moniker in 2016 after having been previously known as Tsynth. With early releases on “Tono Limited”, dub influence with synth chords was front of each production.
Over the years, the artist kept the familiar “soft” and “gradual” sound of dub while adding personal field recordings, modular personality and experimentation, eventually cultivating a blend of intuitive design with technical value.
His musical progression allowed him to get closer to the sound of nature, offering him his main artistic and spiritual inspiration. In the past two years, Zemög has diffused his local culture through organic & tribal productions on imprints such as From a Lost Place, Ordinamento Selettivo, Circular Limited, Different Exhibition and now, Huinali Recordings.
In “Nature Chants”, Zemög has produced a wildly vivid experience through five richly elaborated tracks, stimulating universal sounds of nature and individual memories thereof. From the artist’s imagination, to the unexplored sounds of Colombia, Zemög intimately takes listeners along to explore his home country in brilliant sound design. Released under Oslated’s sublabel Huinali Recordings, “Nature Chants” continues both the artist and label’s history of a highly praised catalogue.
Opening up the release with “Sailing Timbiquí River”, Zemög progressively adds to the track’s ambient body with unpredictable elements, as if drifting further into a river brings unfamiliar sound. Assisting in this achievement, at times the sound design illustrates a lack of formula, only revealing sounds that seemingly come at random. The technic fades out while the nature chant fades in, enveloping the listener with an immersive spherical world.
Continuing with the next two tracks, “The Birds That Never Returned” and “Hiking In Chicaque”, the EP keeps the best elements and continues to build, this time with arpeggios being the most present. Contributing to a more “upbeat” experience, the arpeggios give a sense of escalation, motivating the listener (or explorer) to follow the sound and dart.
The last two tracks, “Equal Vibrations (Dub Phasing)” and “Hiking In Chicaque (Segue Dub)” offer a much different experience. Relative to the previous three, these two tracks bring a groove asking to be moved. Segue’s remix of “Hiking In Chicaque” converts the track into a deeper and less naturalised version, perhaps an after-hours effect.
With a maturing sound and personalised scope of cross-genre fusions, Zemög continues to produce inspiring releases. Looking ahead, he is an artist to learn from and follow.
WRITING BY: JEFF SPECTOR | 29 NOVEMBER 2021
