Short Reviews [Nick Nicely - 2018 - "All Along the Watchtower / The Doors of Perception"]

UK based artist Nick Nicely is one more veteran creator of music that has been active since the early 1980's, with a small handful of albums and a couple of handfuls of single releases to his name. Hist latest production is the single "All Along the Watchtower", which was released towards the tail end of 2018 by UK label Fruits de Mer Records. The first of the songs on this double A-side single is the rather famous Bob Dylan song, which has been transformed into something rather different in this incarnation. With floating sounds and textures, chaotic otherworldly twists and more back to Earth instrument and vocal bits in between, one might claim that this is a remix from Alpha Centauri or related star systems, and possibly made in the distant future at that. Second track 'The Doors of Perception' continues in a similar vein, with less chaotic elements but a stronger emphasis on floating textures, with an ebb and flow wavelike pattern of intensity as something of a trademark feature. A soft, layered fluctuating soundscape, otherworldly in mood, broken up occasionally by crispy psychedelic guitar soloing and various kinds of vocals and vocal effects. This is a creative and innovative production, but also one that I think will have more of a limited appeal. Space cadets with an affection for otherworldly moods and atmospheres strikes me as a key audience, and then those among them with a certain taste for ambient atmospheres at that.