Nervus Vagus
Self-released, 2021
8/10
The Lithuania artist Gintas K returns with an electroacoustic body of work, where voices and stories told by people of varying ages and gender flow against a backdrop of highly experimental sounds.
“Beginning, Laughter” opens the listen with glitchy computer sounds that are quite exploratory in a soundtrack to a video game in another dimension sort of way that welcomes bits of laughing, and “Rising” follows with a similar amount of creativity, where a busy, nearly chaotic setting unfolds.
Elsewhere, “Keep Walking” recruits much atmosphere to the dreamy, soothing climate, while “A Dream, Relatives Story” delivers a warm undercurrent that is populated by a storm of computer noises. “Art Story”, one of the album’s best, then bristles with a bit of an ominous quality amid an airy feeling that’s nearly spiritual.
The final two tracks, “+ all we are” and “+ toys story” are equally exciting, where the former is a flurry of sonically synthetic sounds, and the latter showcases the pure sounds of a baby’s laughter.
Gintas K has been a part of the Lithuanian experimental scene since 1994, and is well versed in digital music for film and sound installations. An artist with a truly unique vision, Nervus Vagus is yet another fascinating effort, where the spare use of voices mixed with his granular synthesis, live electronic and hard computer music makes for an experience you’re not going to hear anywhere else.
Travels well with: Body/Negative- Fragments; Peter Gilbert- Burned Into The Orange