- A sweeping collection of dream pop, ambient and shoegaze with assistance from Erika de Casier, Shy and Huerco S.
- The extended 3XL label universe—which includes friendly imprints like Motion Ward and West Mineral Ltd—is home to a wide cast of characters. Artists constantly switch styles and aliases, and following it all can feel like trying to keep sand from trickling out between your fingers. naemi, formerly known as Exael (along with several other aliases), is the biggest enigma. Their discography encompasses dub techno, donk, vaporous ambient, shoegaze and indie rock. There's no one record that captures the whole naemi picture, at least until now. Dust Devil, a lavish double album, reflects both their own artistic vision and the close-knit community and them. Every track is a collaboration, with the likes of Erika de Casier, Huerco S., Shy and Ulla colouring naemi's dream pop guitar fantasias. It's a windswept epic of DIY ambient and stoner emo, a White Album for regulars of the Berlin ambient club kwia.
Dust Devil starts seductively with Erika de Casier's weightless balladry on "It Feels So Good." Its New Age synth swirls lead into the first strums of acoustic guitar on "CO (Sugar Hiccup)"–a title that references one of Cocteau Twins' earliest classics. The guitar strings sound gilded, loosening stardust with every strum, while vocalist Yves B. Golden reads poetry over serrated electronics that start to nag and pull at the corners of the track—think Fennesz's 2001 LP Endless Summer.
The most beautiful moments of Dust Devil capture the glow and possibility of late '90s and early '00s electronica. But the effect isn't so much nostalgic as hopeful. It sounds like the work of someone who came across this music on their own rather than living through the era when it actually happened. Distance has its own peculiar perspective. "Day Drifter" is all Gish-era Smashing Pumpkins grandeur, with a beautiful vocal from Perila and guitar that seems to stumble through the bars, moving by its own logic–you can hear glimpses of naemi in rock band mode. And on "Couch Angel," breakbeats haphazardly drop down from the aether, landing with a thud. They collect into a beautiful shoegaze song, featuring Arad Acid and Huerco S, with an immaculate rippling groove hurtling through space in slo-mo.
For an album with over 15 guests, Dust Devil is remarkably consistent. Some musical partners only make a faint imprint—you can feel Ulla in the clicks & cuts tribute of "Lasagna Box," but not quite pinpoint her presence. Others like Isla boss NAP, who speaks over the swaggering cumbia of "Ambrosia," are more like friends stopping by to say hello. Two of the best tracks feature frequent collaborator Shy, including "Blueberry Ice," a so-on-the-nose title (named for a vape flavour) that would be funny if the track wasn't the epitome of broke-down beauty. Here, melodies decay and unfurl over disembodied Reese basslines, a hint of menace like anxiety tingling in the background of the mind.
Dust Devil feels like a community effort, but it wouldn't have happened without naemi at the centre, pulling everyone together. With little online presence aside from a steady stream of releases, naemi strikes a humble pose in this scene. Dust Devil is both a nexus for collaboration and a bellwether for where this small but crowded scene might be going next. Out? Dub techno. In? Hazy coffee shop ditties. Dust Devil sometimes lacks song structure, but it makes up for that in emotional tactility. The bumps and edges of every feeling are tangible, delivered in textures rather than words. Dust Devil splits the difference between bedroom ambient music and the emo-influenced styles of artists like claire rousay, and it's this contrast between arm's-length storytelling and soul-baring is what makes the record such a captivating statement. It's the embodiment of the exploratory double album, unspooling in every direction but getting caught by friends just as it's about to fall.
Tracklist01. It Feels So Good w/ Erika
02. CO (Sugar Hiccup) w/ Yves B. Golden
03. Pretty Girl 4K Drone w/ Ben Bondy
04. Day Drifter w/ Perila
05. Thinking of Incky w/ Pontiac Streator
06. Couch Angel w/ Arad Acid & Huerco S.
07. Lasagna Box (Ashley's Theme) w/ Ulla
08. Amnis w/ Desiree Monique & Florian TM Zeisig
09. Ambrosia w/ NAP
10. Olivia Prime w/ Jason Graf
11. Blueberry Ice w/ PVAS & Shy
12. Milau w/ Zoe Darsee
13. Dust Devil w/ Shy
14. Slipstream w/ NM