We gladly present Nik Snake F’s self-titled release with its emotive ambient soundscapes and sometimes-tense glitching sonics as our latest release. It’s a diverse series of songs that have some wonderfully unexpected moments.

Nik Snake F’s self-titled release begins abruptly with a rambling jumble of looped murmurs and indistinct transmissions in the song “Clouds they, trembling, float by”. Anxious and bustling, Nik sets a tense tone that is balanced by restrained atmospheric swells.

But it’s not all themed around this sense of unease, as the following track, “Taekwondo”, builds with a peaceful ambient melody that is later driven by a forceful and glitchy beat. He even adds a more uplifting and lighthearted song, “Nayti murashki”, that kindles a playful melody and hip-hop beat.

His willingness to experiment with various genres is evident just within the first few tracks, but Nik keeps everything cohesive by tinting each song with a brisk and chilled atmospheric sound.

“Common swift flight” stands apart right from beginning with its trance-like rhythms and synths; it’s a serene and transporting song that evokes the exact emotive lightness felt within flight, a feeling that’s close to heavenly.

Less expected, given its title, is Nik’s own interpretation of this un-earthly realm in the closing song; beginning with an already established sense of tension, yet still allowing a hope for serenity, “Heaven” is later discerned by an industrial, and nearly maniacal, sense of mechanical clamor. Seemingly purposeful and perhaps most interestingly, the song ends with the same abruptness as the album started leaving the listener with a biting sense of unresolve but a hope to hear more.

— Scott