#heartbeat summer
Though I was only recently introduced to the sounds of Dai Nakamura through Growing Bin Records, the composer and producer has been active since the early 2000s, working solo as Nuback, and also collectively with bands such as Bank andBlank Music. Much of Nakamura’s work finds its home on the artist’s own Too Young Records, and back in 2013, the label digitally released Nuback’s Good Bye Summer, AgainEP, two tracks of which were eventually selected by Growing Bin for the When the Party’s Over / Heartbeat Summer 7”. Nostalgic city-pop, heart throb indie, and dub-kissed chillwave thread together as sparse rhythms and big bottomed basslines groove beneath swirls of ethereal synthesis…these aqueous pads, soaring leads, and starlight sparkles that swim aside funk guitar licks and swooning soul vocalizations. And there is a distinct sense throughout—helped in no small part by the title of each track, and of the EP from which they are sourced—that the music here is meant to function as a wistful love letter to the end of summer…to bittersweet remembrances of coastal highway cruises, afternoon beach parties, late night dances, and early mornings spent watching the sun ascend across magnificent expanses of gold and blue.
Nuback - When the Party’s Over / Heartbeat Summer (Growing Bin Records, 2020)
“When the Party’s Over” begins with glimmering synth chords that stretch through ping-pong echoes, their decay trails flowing towards a gorgeous summer horizon. Rubber band boogie bass pounds and broken kick and snare beats hold down a skeletal groove, while further layers of oceanic synthesis swell into the stereo field. Cluster of starshine shimmer in the sky, pads move like liquid light waves, and majestic melodies are buried beneath layers of sweeping filter mesmerism while in the distance, electric guitars riff through multi-hued clouds of seafoam. As we back down into washing synthetic wavefronts and barely-there kick and snare rhythms, Nakamura croons romantically around the mix…breathing sensuously…voice double tracked and spoken close…conversational and sweetly naïve. Solar guitar hooks and layers of blissed out electronica rush in for a sort of chorus as Nakamura’s voice backs into a sadboy indie serenade, with the vibe sleepy eyed, slightly stoned, and softly psychedelic. During the bridge, hazy pads hover aside the vocals and bulbous basslines move beneath blasts of galactic magic, with sonorous soul hooks and radio AOR lyricisms flowing out into the ether. Sometimes, further guitar layers scat out spacey funk riffs in support while overhead, kosmische arps sparkle like liquid diamonds. There’s a moment where things slowly devolve towards a false ending…the track seeming to vaporize as drums and pads wash out beneath bell tree cascades and synthetic firefly dances. But as echoing space guitars decay and blurred electronics mimic a mirage, a timbale roll rockets the track back to life, leading to one last soulful summer pop swing that slowly fades into silence.
Over on the B-side sits “Heartbeat Summer,” where jazz snares and house claps work together over clipped kicks and smoldering e-piano romantics. The background overflows with chittering echo manipulations and broken machine oscillations, though these sounds swirl far in the distance, leaving room for sub bass dub bubbles to guide summery group vocalizations. Nakamura’s multi-layered voice moves through wordless soul-hooks…like the backline singers for some Motown diva transported into a spell of downtempo seafloor balearica. Synthesizers paint the air in shades of aquamarine as they reach out across infinite oceans and futuristic wobble basslines sing strange lullabies in support. Metalloid vapors breath and sparkling strands of crystal break free from the murk as they introduce anthemic guitar harmonies…these sky-seeking fusion pop licks that vaguely remind me of PInback…a sort of flamboyant six string duel repurposed for indie heartache and twilit romance. Following this, the flubbing spaceage bass wobbles return to sing alien sea shanties and woven threads of starshine synthesis resume wrapping around the heart, their melodies carrying the spirit away towards a paradise unknown. And all throughout the background, a calming cloud of dissonance continuously mutates, from which psychosonic threads push out into view before receding into nothingness.
(images from my personal copy)
