North German ethereal coldwave artist Glaring has had a prolific career, with her latest LP Nebula being her eighth in a line of albums that have been for the most part self-released.
Glaring, the aural outlet of artist Anna Nin, began churning these gossamer threads of soft melancholia in October 2018, after initially emerging under the ambiguous guise of “None” in 2017.
On Nebula, Nin wrote, recorded, and mixed all nine of these mesmerizing new songs which together form a cohesive and introspective journey through the psyche, like a wanderer weighed heavy by sorrow navigating through a snowstorm on a winter’s night.
With shuddering guitar reverb, crystalline synths, and drum machines that pulse like a beating heart, Nebula is a dynamic record that does not repeat itself while distilling the essence of the luminous interludes that contrast the darkness of solitude and sadness.
The album opens with the iridescent guitar-driven “Far Away”; a beautiful sigh before the plunge, with Nin’s hushed vocals, materializing like an icy breath in the frost. This is followed by the drum-driven dirge “Human Plague”, a song led by mournful synths and vocals, crushed by a despondent soundscape.
“Isolation World” shivers with a foreboding rhythm that is enveloped by Nin’s hazy incantations and sparse and spellbinding guitar vignettes and phantasmagoric synths.
“Restless” meanders softly with a bass-driven reverie, that glistens with its vocals exhales, and euphoric guitar quivers.
“Pain Walks With Me”, is accompanied by a surreal and atmospheric black and white video that highlights the delicate tactile feeling of the song; like a procession into the solemn cathedral of the heart.
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“Detachment” is a sombre synth-driven darkwave requiem for the soul, and “Weightless” drifts into the aether with its soft humming melody.
The penultimate track, “We All Leave in the End” is a cascade of heartrending melody, awash in the grief of sonorous synths, and mournful guitars. And as the storm begins to subside, the album closes with the bewitching “Vanth”, a sonic ritual accompanied by a video veiled in lunar mysticism.
Watch below:
Glaring’s Nebula is out now via Peripheral Minimal. The album is a love letter to the dreamscapes of early 4AD, such as Dead Can Dance and Cocteau Twins, as well as more recent artists such as Tropic of Cancer.
Nebula has been issued to a limited 250 copies on black vinyl.
Listen to the full album below, and order here.
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