Nadja

Toronto, ON-based drone/shoegaze project Nadja are prolific enough, and consistent enough, to tackle a wide variety of experimental and one-off projects, including a huge number of splits and collaborations with the likes of A Storm of Light and Black Boned Angel, a collection of covers (2009's When I See The Sun Always Shines On T.V.), and, in this case, a record dedicated to ecological awareness. Released by green label Oaken Palace, their latest EP (available both as a twelve-inch and digital download), Flipper, is dedicated to whales and conservation, and all proceeds will go to benefit charitable organizations working for marine mammal protection. For this record, core duo Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff have called upon Peter Broderick and Angela Chan to provide additional strings (violin and viola, respectively), and the collective mass of the sound they produce is vast — more liquid and gentle than Nadja's usual voluminous drone, but also somehow weightier. The shifting depths of the low end recall the alien darkness of an ocean trench, while on the surface of "Wrapped in Plastic" and "Song for the Sea" there's also a bright, dappled, jazzy sweetness. Every experiment Najda cook up in their musical laboratory tends to be powerful, and the massive, oceanic roll of Flipper is no exception.