The CV of Nathan Plante is extraordinary for a fledgling electronic artist. His life in music started with the handbell choir at his family’s church near San Diego, California. In the elementary school, Plante took up the trumpet and ‘never looked back’. After studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he continued at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin. Today he is principal trumpet player in a chamber orchestra in Germany and performs all over the world with contemporary ensembles and as a soloist.
And now in 2024, as a surprising move, Plante releases the electronic debut EP “Electric Birds”. As we know, one doesn’t need to be a (university) trained musician for creating electronic tracks. But according to Plante, although classical music has played a major role in his career, his real specialty has always been contemporary and avant-garde music. In this respect, switch to electronics doesn’t look like a talent downgrade. Especially when Plante’s modular compositions are well crafted pieces of dark and powerful ambient.
Booming intro of “Distorted Reflection” forecasts the arrival of a cyclone, before hovering oscillations are gradually rinsing the wall of noise. Organ chords are a welcome addition, guiding us to a cathedral for an imaginary encounter with Maxime Denuc. Seismic ambient resumes with “Cumulus”, which is constructed on a long stretch of modular roars. Handbells are penetrating low-hanging skies, mixed with haunting sounds from inhuman sources. The title track of “Electric Birds” commences with distorted modular loops, when we embark to an excursion to the kingdom of pterosaurs. Then the track’s second half is overrun by shredded sequences that remind of the most ruthless moments of Pan Sonic’s minimalism.
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