Maxine Denuc - Nachthorn

Very disappointed to have missed out on copies of Maxine Denuc's debut LP on its limited release late last year, so a courteous nod in the direction of Vlek is due for this - you guessed it - Much Needed Repress. By connecting the main organ in Dusseldorf's St. Antonius Church to a unique control system devised by Sinua, Denuc has effectively been afforded the chance to reimagine organ music in the context of what we might typically understand as 'dance' music, a conceptual fusing of the classic with the modern. I can't explain the technological ins and outs, but what's essentially created here is a giant synthesiser that can emulate the sonic cadences of dub techno and ambient music with an extremely rich and heavy sonority. The club as church dialectic is a long standing one (God is a DJ etc etc), and Nachthorn is a great play on that conceit, an undulating, ever-ascending beatless collection that sits somewhere between the legendary E2-4 and Gas' self-titled triple LP on Mille Plateaux (that label, too, a very valid reference point) that feels especially reverential but never precious. Modern classicism? Classic modernism? Either way, Denuc's made something here that feels particularly monumental, both practice and end product equally enticing.