Night Foundation - Souvenir (2022)

Richard Vergez is as much a creator as he is a collector of subcultural ephemera. He is trained by the traditions of the international underground and its aesthetics, from cut and paste techniques to the aesthetics of dub, from the harmonic scales of post-punk to the self-imposed restrictions of minimalism. He works as a visual artist, operates the Noir Age label and releases his own music as Night Foundation.

His compositions are fairly minimal - four tracks of arranged loops on synthesizers, guitar and percussion are mostly enough to produce the otherworldly, hypnotic sounds of the Night Foundation. It is extremly structured music, yet, repetition and minimal changes are crucial here. As soothing as eerie, it cancels out time. Levitation music. But audible is also a certain longing, a feeling of loss and something much darker lurking underneath. Hence, the apt title „Souvenir“ - it is an object with a past, a vessel for a certain memory, a symbol for a desire bigger than the sum of its parts. A nostalgia that is not pathetic; the analog body is still warm, and „Souvenir“ feels more like a letting go than a sappy memory. It is dark music with a penchant for storytelling.

As sparse as the instrumentation sometimes is, „Souvenir“ is a cinematic recording - a chimeric cross between 80‘s american film noir and Aki Kaurismäki, if you will. A music equally focused and wide, zooming in on the details.

Through the 4th world meanderings of „Turning Point“, chilly bass sequences as heard on „Sonder“, the almost campy balearic kitsch of „Too Late“, the transversions between songs, the eerie skits, the slowed down magnetic tapes, Vergez opens up a portal to a world of rich imaginery.