After spending a good bit of time to make the ambitious Digital Reaction a reality, Nick Millevoi retreated to a simpler way of making a record but, as always the case with this guitarist/composer, it comes with a new twist.
Moon Pulses (Island House Recordings) sprung quickly from an inspiration to create an engrossing “enveloping meditative vibe,” as he puts it, and to do this with minimal tools and production.
In six days for an hour a day, Millevoi recorded six pieces, collectively running just under a half hour long. Everything about this record points to conceiving a single idea and a single-minded determination to bring that idea to fruition.
It’s one thing to use effects on a guitar and another to employ it in such a way that it forms a strong, consistent vibe. Evocative of many but replicative of nobody, Moon Pulses platforms simple riffs for the visceral experience of sonic psychedelics.
The sounds are all generated by guitar (and lap steel on the final track), constructed by a lead, ‘melody’ guitar layered over a rhythm guitar effectively layered over the shimmering, background effects that are spun off of it.
The tracks – all titled “Moon Pulse” followed by a number to indicate where it falls in the sequencing – flow like a solitary piece that floats from one room of a house to another, such as the heavy-toned ambiance of “Moon Pulses 1” followed by the Frippertronics-adjacent vibrations of “Moon Pulses 2.” There’s no percussion, but that doesn’t mean a lack of groove; “Moon Pulses 5” is even built on one.
“Moon Pulses 6” stands out for that pedal steel, which cast into an electronic-tinged New Age setting, calls to mind Carl Weingarten’s own innovations.
Moon Pulses is now available, and one way to get it is from Bandcamp.
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