Rachika Nayar - Fragments (2021)

The latest installment of THERE, Commend’s ongoing series of music recorded beyond but inspired by the communal efforts of RVNG Intl.’s Lower East Side space, arrives courtesy of New York sound artist Rachika Nayar. fragments is an EP of sonic miniatures Nayar constructed from guitar loops and in the familiar comforts of her own bedroom.

While growing up and developing a relationship with the instrument and her capabilities, using delay pedals to improvise layered guitar pieces evolved from a practice into a deep source of self-exploration and restoration for Nayar. On Our Hands Against the Dusk, Nayar’s debut full-length released earlier this year, the guitar is present but processed, synthesizing with the surrounding instruments and often transforming beyond recognition. As a companion piece of-sorts to Our Hands, her fragments EP reveals the types of raw guitar sketches that make up the core from which these grander mutated compositions often originate. The form remains complex, informed by virtuosic, dexterous guitar playing, but the collection of sound retains a sense of primitivism, and represents a new experience for Nayar in sharing such an intimate part of her creative practice.