Here we are! It took me a while, but I swear it wasn’t wasted time. I had been waiting for a nvrmore project for quite a while and, before writing about it, I wanted to explore it through and through. It wasn’t easy in the first place because, despite every time nvrmore and wavemob have collided incredible things happened (‘Almost Home‘ and ‘Cassiopea’), the spectre of the previous opaque and impersonal EP ‘In between‘ was still hovering in my mind.
Moreover, it wasn’t easy because ‘As It Once Was’ is definitely not a streambait or disposable listen, it’s only after the fourth/fifth try does it starts to reveal its true face. After countless replays and a full sleepless night with nvrmore in my headphones, I can now finally affirm that the Italian producer has brought back in full display his unique blend of bass music, progressive rock and lo-fi beats. A widespread use of acoustic components, (a backbone of his style since the very beginning) and airy, modulated vocals complete the set up, making this EP a definite bible of the nvrmore sound.
The opening track ‘Wating Time’, a 110 seconds soft, emo-y melancholy piece (mid way between The Weekend and Lana Del Rey) acts as a crossroads between the two slightly different paths that the project takes. On one side we have the vapour wave atmospheres of ‘Lily’ (w/ Klimeks) and ‘E341’, on the other side the progressive/psychedelic rock explorations of ‘I Am’, ‘What You Are Afraid Of’ and the ‘raw’ version of ‘Lily’
The overall sensation is to drown in a sweet but also poisonous spiral of memories, trapped among sweet dreams, bitter regrets and painful remorses.
You can stream As It Once Was on your favourite platform or buy the exclusive limited edition cassette here.
