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Album:
Septs Vents (LAMP001)

Artist:
Nacht Plank

Release Date:
June 2005

Tracklisting:
1.Croan
2.Vire
3.Troarn
4.Film
5.Bonnbosq
6.Rijhwoude
7.Glisten
8.Carhaix Nonant
9.Mehk
10.Brasparts
11.Plouescat

Download PDF Press Release (70KB)

Watch the video for 'Croan' here

Septs Vents is not an album that can be described in earthly measures, nor does it follow any specific song-writing rules. Instead, the eleven tracks seem to have a life of their own, constantly evolving and changing according to an internal set of parametres. Its strange sounds and textures make it impossible to associate with our known world, and its inaccessible titles only add to the mystery surrounding the music.

Nacht Plank seems to have sourced his sonic raw material from deep woods and underground tunnels, where mysterious life forms breed and grow. He then processes them to craft his own wordless stories in the form of these songs. Assembled within hours, they manage to distill, like a magic time capsule, the essence of eternity in a few minutes. On a careful listen one is able to recognize, briefly, familiar sounds; a cricket in a hot summer night, boats dancing in moving waters. Blended with carefully filtered piano and guitar recordings and surrounded by an ensemble of vintage synthesizers, they are the basic ingredients of each track. All these samples and sounds are then repeated and layered after they are given their place in the song. Nacht Plank's music does not only exist within those samples, but in the space between them and in the way they interact with each other. Similar to Eisenstein's montage theory about film content, he has found his own formula that lies behind each of these tracks, holding it together.

Lee Norris has created, under the Nacht Plank moniker, a warm and crunchy album full of otherwordly ambience and nostalgia. As Septs Vents unravels itself, it draws us into its timeless universe evoking the qualities of objects unearthed years after they've been buried. Its looping melodies and sample patterns resemble coded messages from a long-forgotten spaceship, trapped in a far away Galaxy. Forever locked in its orbit, it transmits broken signals from worn out tapes that only a sensitive ear like Nacht Plank's could receive.

REVIEWS:

Cyclic Defrost
September 2005
Septs Vents is a work of distances. Lee Noris (aka Nacht Plank and also Metamatics when more upbeat) amplifies and manipulates common source materials such as gritty rocks, the splash of feet through mud, cluttered leaves and the breaking of branches, but abstracts from each sound its traditional connotations in order that one may direct oneís attention on the features ëobjectivelyí constituting the phenomenon. In his hands, heavy beads of water form an opaqueness akin to transparent milk, smearing the outline of background chirps and pings and distorting their silhouettes into weird grotesqueness. There is a hermetic mood and sense of remoteness from the world drifting about each composition. The way the stammer of crickets and rattle of bushes is familiar yet foreign in its presentation. A seamless crackle and hum carry far off into the sky, fostering the impression that one could simply reach out and touch some far-off bell-like tone, flickering in the distance. Elsewhere, stochastic shards of radio static are coupled with the white hot effervesce of condensed energy in an abstracted waltz of broken drones and warm, diffused modulations. In such moments, Noris snuggles very high frequencies with those of the lower end and proves himself a deft sculptor of both, starting, stopping or cutting up the former while enabling the latter to diffuse into a gleaming haze. For all that, he doesn't venture so far away from his source materials as to become overtly calculated, allowing the ether the odd moment to sing without any composerly interference.
Max Schaefer

The Wire
Lee Norris sets his Metamatics and Norken projects aside long enough to produce the first release for a new label set up by core members of the Type collective. Does such a venture really require yet another separate identity? True anonymity is both overrated and undervalued these days. Ask anyone with an email address. Septs Vents is a concentrated work of considerable depth that tries not to draw attention to itself. Each track is consequently a moment of discovery: nothing is given up easily. From the phased resonance of "Croan" to the final scintillations of "Plouescat", Norris makes sensitive use of his source material, deploying a carefully graded selection of textures and effects.
Ken Hollings

Smallfish
June 2005
Nacht Plank's previous work on Hydrogen Dukebox was very highly regarded... And quite right too. A delicious cocktail of beautiful electronica written by Lee Norris of Metamatics fame. This cd is quite simply a wonderful collection of organic / electronic tracks that are incredibly deep, amazingly beautiful and produced to perfection. Seriously, if you love gorgeous music, this is absolutely one for you to check. Although it has a few abstract moments, they never get bogged down in deliberately obtuse sounds, instead having a coherent feel throughout. Recommended? Oh yes indeed!

Brainwashed
June 2005
Everything on this record screams of biological energy; the music casts a shadow over the room the second it begins and, as it continues, strange flora begins to bloom from it left and right. Lee Norris' work in Metamatics has little to do with this more abstract moniker and it's of little surprise that the Lampse label has decided to make Septs Vents its inaugural release. First and foremost, it's a beautiful album crawling with night life; fire flies, crickets, owls, and the ominous crunch of dead limbs and old leaves populate every corner of each of these 11 tracks and though it is inviting at times, the majority of this nocturnal beast overflows with an ambient horror. When the hissing and ephemeral life becomes to dense, like a plague of locusts or any insect buzzing over a continent mindlessly, Norris loosens his approach up and allows some sunlight to creep through the dark curtains his monumental sounds can cast. Guitars of near-Spanish descent part the canopy and wooden percussion stroll along underneath creating small oases of comfort and liquid relief. Listened to as background music, Sept Vents acquires a strange flow that twists and turns uncomfortably; it's never allowed me to keep my attention elsewhere for very long and often the shifts in tempo and demeanor will draw me away from my books or from my computer. Close listens bring out a strange logic of indiscernible organic samples and immediately recognizable electronic pulses; the album doesn't exactly play itself out as a strictly electronic album, but it doesn't revel in the realm of field recording, either. The sounds are heavily processed, but remain identifiable enough to feel wholesome, frightening, familiar, or alien (sometimes simultaneously). Lampse may be another label to watch closely, if this record is any indication of its musical platform and commitment to good music, then it's likely that there will be plenty more strange worlds coming from this camp.
Lucas Schleicher

Igloo Magazine
June 2005
Originally slated to be released on the Type imprint, Septs Vents is now brought to you as the inaugural release of the brand new UK based label, Lampse (pronounced "Lamp-seh") Audio Visual Recordings.

It's very hard not to come across material by a composer as prolific as Lee Norris and many people will already be familiar with his work under one or more of his various guises. Be it the early, drum and bass tinged electro or more recent delicate, dry electronica of Metamatics, the housier, techno-tinged output of Norken or, more unusually, the richly textured ambience of the more elusive Nacht Plank output, all pseudonyms have produced both critically acclaimed and influential work.

From what it's possible to gather by previous releases, much of the material collected on Septs Vents has been waiting in the wings for some time now. Lost And Damaged by Nacht Plank was the third in a series of remix compilations of Lee Norris' work under his three individual pseudonyms. Released in 2003 on the Hydrogen Dukebox label, almost every track on that compilation was a remix of one that appears on Septs Vents, so it would seem that these pieces are long overdue for exposure in their original form. Happily, Septs Vents emerges as one of Norris' most accomplished releases in his entire canon.

Septs Vents is an unearthed catalogue of digital life forms, recorded transmissions and ethereal, alien artifacts that have variously fallen victim to mutation, corruption, distortion, corrosion and decay. Eschewing traditional musical forms in favor of densely layered, looped ambient sounscaping, these weathered exhibits are displayed in their own static and discrete spaces, their relationship to one another and existence as a collection seemingly more important than any internal, dynamic evolution or physical interconnection. Septs Vents is also deeply affecting thanks to its delicate balance of the familiar with the abstract, be it the melding of the organic with the alien in "Vire," "Film' or "Bonnbosq," the vaguely recognizable masked and distorted by electronic interference (on "Mehk," "Plousecat" and "Brasparts"), or the counter-balancing of the natural with the industrial in the various sub-aquatic journeys taken by pieces such as "Troarn" or "Brasparts."

"Croan," for example, transmits a deep, resonant, wowing thrum through fields of low quality digital encoding noise; but what exactly is it? The sound of antiquated, low-flying aircraft heard from the ground or close to the engines? The labored turning of machinery in a dilapidated factory, the engine room of a ship, or a power station somewhere? Almost subconsciously familiar sounds float upon the memory, yet remain intriguingly out of reach. "Troarn" is a high water mark in Norris' musical career and easily one of the finest pieces on Septs Vents. At just under eight minutes, it's also the longest, proving once again that Norris has an impeccable sense for pacing and timing. An extended underwater voyage to the murky depths of the ocean, strains of rusted and corroded Vangelis-esque strings sway, tendril-like through a bubbling array of faint crackling and radio noise, the muffled clonking of boats knocking together in moving waters, and an omni-present low murmur which becomes most conspicuous by its sudden, unexpected absence about five and a half minutes in. Sublime.

"Film" juxtaposes a symphony of insect chatter and amphibious animal calls with the subtle and oddly ethereal resonation of a recently struck gong, "Vire" is a study of mico-organisms smothered in a looped purring motif and swathes of sighing pads, crackle and hiss and "Bonnbosq" blends a filtered and warped exotic bird song with delicate and distant eastern fluted motifs. The malfunctioning "Brasparts" appears as a distillation of all the techniques used on Septs Vents, as radio chatter, clipping and distortion spark and splutter, mired in bizarre, underwater burbling and heavily modulated, burping vocal samples. Of the more musical pieces on Septs Vents, "Glisten" is the track that most recalls Norris' work as Metamatics, powdery, freeze-dried washes and sighs combined with reedy synth keys and pads.

Worth mentioning is the unusual packaging that Lampse has employed for its releases. Septs Vents and other forthcoming albums in the Lamp series consist of a CD slipped inside the pages of an exceptionally attractive 8 page booklet designed by Kabegami that has been printed to exacting standards on unusual stock and to a very high quality. The artwork for Septs Vents is particularly notable both because of its low-key simplicity and how effectively it evokes and represents the music contained within. Housed inside a clear plastic wallet, the package also includes a small, printed foldout insert with information about the Lampse label and its forthcoming releases. Very attractive indeed.

Septs Vents is a formidable debut for the Lampse label and, with the release of another Nacht Plank album imminent on the Neo Ouija label, the start of a new musical phase for Lee Norris. Essential.

Textura
June 2005
Norris has issued electronica and Detroit-influenced house-techno under the Metamatics and Norken guises respectively, but Nacht Plank offers an avenue for music of an entirely different sort, namely densely textured soundscaping. Septs Vents' eleven, cryptically titled tracks are ethereal ambient settings teeming with jungle calls, amoebic life forms, guitar smudges, insect chatter, and other abstract exotica. They're largely static, often lulling pieces comprised of looping cells over which minimal motifs appear, the focus more on the material's rich sonic density than compositional development. Apparently, Norris sources material from the outdoors, processes it, blends the results with filtered piano, guitars, and synthesizers, and then constructs layered loops from the grimy results. Consequently, there's an often natural, organic quality to the sound but also an industrial dimension though not of the abrasive kind, more akin to the sound of quietly humming and whirring machinery. While the overall compositional approach isn't innovative, it's Nacht Plank's distinctive sound palette which recommends Septs Vents most of all. Consider, for example, the gauzy, rippling textures, frog-like calls, and flares that dominate “Vire,” and what easily could pass for a magnified recording of chattering micro-organisms in “Mehk.” The album's alien aura is perhaps best conveyed by its longest piece, the eight-minute “Troarn,” an amorphous mass of clicks, burblings, and rustlings out of whose swamp a horn-like theme surfaces. Imagine ambient recastings of Eno's “In Dark Trees” and “Sombre Reptiles” (Another Green World) updated, blurred, and expanded to album length form and you'll have some hint of Septs Vents' sound.

For now, Septs Vents and Exercises in Estrangement offer more than their share of challenging moments to appease an open-minded listener's appetite.

Tasty Fanzine
June 2005
Lee Norris also records as Metamatics and Norken, but his Nacht Plank project is where he experiments with the very deepest abstract ambience - be prepared to listen very closely if you want to get anything out of this album. Featuring little in the way of obvious instrumentation other than a shedload of crackly, dusty synthesisers and the odd tinkle of keys (‘Carhaix Nonant’), and strummed guitar (‘Rijhwoude’), Septs Vents utilises heavily processed field recordings taken from god knows where to create the sound of a space station chirruping away to itself late at night. Not there is such a thing as night in space, or sound for that matter.  

I hesitated to use the word soundscape in describing the music on Septs Vents, too obvious, but soundscapes are what these tracks most certainly are and spacious ones at that. In fact, spacious doesn’t really fit the bill; vast is probably a far better word to describe tracks such as ‘Troarn’ a track that, in particular, has an amazing sense of depth and reminded me of Vangelis (this reinforces my sci-fi associations no doubt). The aforementioned ‘Carhaix Nonant’ is lovely; it’s the least ‘dense’ track on the album, the simple, clean melody is not submerged beneath layers of sound (unlike a lot of the tracks on the album which seem sort of nebulous with no one sound standing out); instead it forms the focal point. 

If you put this album on looking for background music then that’s what it will be. It’s not immediate and doesn’t demand attention, but with a little concerted listening these murky, moody constructions can be pretty rewarding. 

Autres Directions
April 2005
En France, le nom de Nacht Plank est totalement inconnu, ses identités civile (Lee Norris, patron du label Neo Ouija) et musicales (Metamatics, Norken) le sont - un peu - moins.
Après deux albums cdr autoproduits et très limités en 1999 et 2000, Nacht Plank avait publié Lost & Damaged chez Hydrogen Dukebox en 2003. En 2004 paraissait Septs Vents (sur un nouveau label, Lampse) et d’ici peu Neo Ouia sortira un le cinquième album Broad Tape Band de cet artiste prolixe. Petit retour donc sur Septs Vents : il s’agit d’un recueil de compositions ambiant/electronica. Les trames digitales de Nacht Plank peuvent décrire un univers animal et végétalier (craquements sombres, mouvements aquatiques, souffles numériques, pseudo-cris d’oiseaux et de grenouilles, traités à l’ordinateur). Elles peuvent également être autant de compositions où planent des drônes électroniques issus de guitares distordues. Ces deux tendances alternent à merveille tout au long de Septs Vents, faisant de cet album un monde tranquille où s’animent de microscopiques unités, tour à tour bactéries ou pixels. Une succession plus mélodique est regroupée vers le milieu de l’album. Après ce passage facile et joli, les bursts électroniques se font plus fréquents et des sons plus durs apparaissent, créant une tension certaine, et contrastant avec la coolitude d’avant, perpétuant ainsi une certaine appréhension jusqu’au terme du disque.
par stephane