Point of Entry (Melody As Truth)
Jonny Nash
Released July 21, 2023
Pitchfork 30 Best Jazz and Experimental Albums of 2023
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Melody As Truth founder Jonny Nash returns to action with his first solo album in four years.
Point of Entry, the Gaussian Curve member’s sixth solo set, builds on Nash’s recent forays into folk traditions (2020’s Poe, made in collaboration with Teguh Permana, and 2021’s Suzanne Kraft co-production A Heart So White), while delivering a clear musical evolution.
Over the course of eleven mesmerising tracks, Nash points the compass gently inwards, casting aside any conceptual frameworks in favour of exploring an imaginative and idealised “personal folk music” that combines elements of traditional acoustic music with the producer’s richly immersive interpretation of ambient, a sound he has been developing for well over a decade.
The album was created using a stream of consciousness approach to writing and recording, with Nash utilising his favoured instrument – the guitar, often doused in atmospheric effects – as a starting point. Throughout, his delicate and evocative playing takes centre stage, its melodic lines and finger-picked refrains painting aural images that resonate with positive yet contemplative energy.
From the smudged acid-folk bliss of ‘Theories’ and ‘Eternal Life’, to the layered acoustic guitars of ‘All I Ever Needed’ and the delay-soaked, Durutti Column-esque ‘Light From Three Sides’, a wide variety of musical textures weave their way throughout the album.
Point of Entry is much more than a mere ‘guitar album’ – it draws on a rich and diverse palette to achieve its purpose. The delicate saxophone work of ambient-jazz contemporary Joseph Shabason swells on ‘Ditto’ and ‘Light From Three Sides’. Cascading piano lines ripple through the crystal clear sonic waters of ‘Face of Another’, whilst echoes of Nash’s work with Gigi Masin and Young Marco as Gaussian Curve appear in the dancing synth sequences of ‘Ditto’ and ‘Golden Hour’. Nash’s reverb-laden voice also appears for the first time since 2016’s critically acclaimed Exit Strategies, used delicately throughout the album to conjure up a world of dusk and golden light.
Combining the delicate human touch and naivety of earlier Melody As Truth releases with widened scope and vision, Point Of Entry is arguably Nash’s most complete work to date – an album that’s as much a statement of his “personal folk” vision as a future ambient classic.
Track Listing:
1. Eternal Life 04:08
2. Theories 02:12
3. October Song 04:08
4. All I Ever Needed 06:24
5. Light From Three Sides 04:16
6. Silver Sand 03:25
7. Ditto 05:00
8. Face Of Another 03:38
9. Low Tide 03:30
10. Golden Hour 04:46
11. Future Friends 02:38
Personnel:
Written, Produced, Performed and Mixed by Jonny Nash
Saxophone by Joseph Shabason
Mastered by Stephan Mathieu
Artwork By Denise Gons
Design by Michael Willis
Review:
Jonny Nash, who runs the Amsterdam-based ambient label Melody as Truth, returned this year with Point of Entry, his first album in four years. Recorded at home during the early morning, this soft-focus music simmers at a low temperature: acoustic guitar paint brushstrokes beneath buoyant synths that seem dappled in sunlight. Nash’s gentle, meandering vocals lend the album an ebbing, stream-of-consciousness flow into which you can easily dip at your own meditative pace.
Eric Torres (Pitchfork)
