2006 has been a great year for Hymen. With some very good releases of well known artists such as Wisp, Xanopticon or Enduser, but also the tremendous album (double if you were quick) of Ginormous and of course the absolutely stunning Travel Sickness Box set. If that wasn’t enough already Hymen adds another one to that impressive list with the release of Kolia by Nebulo. Nebulo is a project of French artist Thomas Pujols. He started out as a visual artist but along the way he also became interested in more experimental electronic music through the likes of artists such as Aphex Twin and Squarepusher. This eventually led to him following courses at the Bordeaux conservatoire, a daytime job for a sound design agency and most important for us, the release of his debut album on Hymen.

According to the press release Thomas aims to create music that elicits strong feelings and makes the listener's mind travel inside imaginary landscapes. Well Thomas, it sure as hell worked! The album consists of thirteen tracks of which two are remixes by Alix and Ginormous. These remixes are both nice tracks and a welcome addition to the main content on the album done by Nebulo himself. And as I hinted before that content has worked out very fine. Composed from layer upon layer of ambient noises, all kinds of small details, catchy rhythms and occasionally some distortion all so beautifully designed and arranged to the point of near perfection, this album just has everything on the right time in the right place. The tracks themselves are like sonic journeys that go through a world of abstract textures and dreamy soundscapes dominated by constantly evolving beats. Sometimes the trip willsuddenly be abrupted by even more abstract and complex breakdowns and rhythms catching you off guard time and again. On top of this all the acoustic percussion elements and instruments that Nebulo use add a delicate feeling of warmth and depth forming a nice contrast with the colder mechanicals beats and noise. The transitions from the slow and surreal breaks into the climatic walls of noise are often so natural and absorbing that it becomes absolutely clear that we’re dealing with someone who can’t only make great music but also understands sound and the way it should be taken care of.