Parisian cassette label Ville Nouvelle are back with a forthcoming tape! This time for VNC005 ‘Dream Plants’ we have 5 tracks by Soft Fit and then another 4 by Aquatic Language, which is a collaborative project between Soft Fit and Precipitation, both of whom are Vancouver-based.

You might know Ville Nouvelle by its only 12” release – a beautiful, beautiful work by fellow Parisian Too Smooth Christ which came out earlier this year. If you’re a regular Bolting Bits reader, you might even remember the label from our VNC004 premiere a few months back, which featured young Australians Yardley and River Yarra. Or, you might simply draw familiarity in the release’s cover art, because despite featuring artworks from different graphic designers for each of its releases, Ville Nouvelle has curated for itself a strong, recognisable label image… and an even more distinct sound. This is a sound which is hazy and soothing; it has a penchant for the organic, the earthy, and with past EP names like ‘Midsummer Melodies’ and ‘LD Fantasy Tracks’, you’d only imagine that there’d be an ethereal flair to it too.

VNC005 ‘Dream Plants’ certainly takes on this sound, but then goes to extend way beyond it with tracks like ‘Lifelike’, a flute duet study in compound-duple time, and ‘Départ’, an 8-and-a-half-minute cinematic soundtrack. A personal favourite is ‘Water Garden’, which features traditional East Asian instrumentation against a trickling stream of water-drop percussion.

[soundcloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/boltingbits/soft-fit-emergency-loop” /]

Our premiere today is Soft Fit’s A3 ‘Emergency Loop’. The track features creamily pressed-in block chords on woodwind synths, drum machine oscillations, and jazzy explorations on a saxophone synth. At times the bass provides a mellow counter-melody to the sax, other times it bounces us along with a punchy riff, paired perfectly with the shimmery percussive highs. ‘Emergency Loop’ is warm, it’s sincere, and it’s gently elevating. Like the other tracks of the EP, it is a great story-teller – imaginative and picturesque, immersing you in a separate, well-considered scene within the ‘Dream Plants’ narrative.

VNC005 ‘Dream Plants’ is out December 1^st !

Ville Nouvelle is a Parisian cassette label run by good friends Boris and Théophile. For their fourth release, we’ll see Australian grown, now Paris-based producers Yardley (soundcloud) and River Yarra (soundcloud) each bring forth four delightful tracks to the table. The label name “Ville Nouvelle” is actually derived from an architectural term which describes new cities being built on uninhabited land. Fittingly enough, VNC004 Antipodal Movements sonically captures the two young producers’ recent journey from Melbourne to settle in France.The album may appear pleasantly humble at first listen, however each track really goes to showcase both producers’ cosmopolitan flair. Whilst one tune may combine dashes of East Asian pentatonic improvisations and classic French cosmic synths, another would pair tribal afro rhythms with dreamy drones that perhaps make for an interpretation of the mystical Australian bushland.

[soundcloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/boltingbits/yardley-fresh-purpose”/]

Being premiered today is Yardley’s ‘Fresh Purpose’, standing out at A2 in the album. A lovely woodwind melody takes the storyline, expanding joyfully and contracting gracefully. It bounces us along with the track’s ebb and flow, which alternates between its feature of the mellow bass or echoey mallet tones. Yardley adds little exciting splashes of laser sweeps along the way, before slowly adventuring to heavier, raw percussive breaks and acid synth explorations. At once introspective and uplifting, ‘Fresh Purpose’ is quite the charmer.

VNC004 Antipodal Movements is set for an August 28th release, with only 100 red hot tapes for you to fight over. Pre-order the cassette and/or digital album here, it’s a right treat!

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmN4vhvuHF4[/embedyt]

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Maria