(Cover design by Erica Eisenberg)
The title hurts a little bit. It has been months since any of us have been able to embrace a great deal of our friends and loved ones. The wonderful new EP from Minneapolis' Nat Harvie and Chicago's Brent Penny doesn't so much aim to recapture the lost feeling of arms wrapping around another human being as it does to gently evoke the warmth of those tender moments through music.
4 embraces was composed and recorded long before separation set in, so I would be remiss to claim that it's some sort of "socially distanced" EP. Harvie and Penny simply understood the necessity of connection - physical, emotional, spiritual - well before anyone realized how much we take it for granted. Their collective understanding isn't presented with lyrics, or even much melody. The duo has created a miniature rumination consisting almost entirely of synthesizers and piano.
"first embrace" sets the mood, never rising above an electronic murmur. Plaintive piano notes coalesce with the simmering quilt of synths. "second embrace" is a slight variation on that theme; it reminds me of sunlight reflecting off the delicate waters of a lake.
"third embrace" brings in the saxophone of Cole Pulice (Iceblink, Kansas Plates) to great effect. Pulice's horn lines cascade over the crescendoing rattle of electronics. Parts of it feel like a long-lost Bon Iver instrumental circa 22, A Million; others feel like pulsing swells of synthwave. The most pleasant surprise comes in the form of Alan Sparhawk's guitar. The legendary Low guitarist paints in some understated fuzz, serving more as a contrasting texture than a leading melody. The final embrace takes things in an unsettling direction. Over a bed of increasingly menacing synths, a twisted story of a car crash is told. The narration unfolds with what almost sounds like uncertainty, like the words are being discovered as they're spoken. As the story reaches its end, Pulice's sax returns, a squalling tornado of rapidly-changing pitches.
Harvie described 4 embraces as "an exploration of...soft experience composed of smaller sharper experiences, sharp experience composed of smaller softer experience." Much of the EP consists of those softer experiences, inviting synth passages and glowing ambience, yet "fourth embrace" dives right into the delicate heart of a jagged, painful experience. Harvie also mentioned "the romance of friendship" as a key point of inspiration. The fluidity of their and Penny's compositions never quite settles on any specific theme. It shifts between each one and blurs the edges.
Listen to and/or buy 4 embraces below.
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