regarding BEVEL, Twin Knowledge and the new full length Angler Senses presently out on Astral Editions

BEVEL is the musical project of Chicago-based artist Via Nuon.

Since 2000, Nuon has been building a house made out of sound, with assistance from a rotating cast of contributors via the likes of members of The Dirty Three, Califone, Manishevtiz, Simon Joyner, John Zorn and Lambchop. In that house are layers of wallpaper – the first layer put down on the Jagjaguwar-released Turn the Furnace On and through 2013’s Twin Knowledge – that spread out like a sonic map to future pasts and past futures.

To listen to BEVEL is to enter that home and lose all sense of time, where softly plucked classical guitar melodies float against the whir of flutes and brass, male and female voices whisper down the halls evoking incantations more than verses, and electronic and percussive shocks open doors of individual rooms inviting further exploration.

Originally hailing from Richmond, VA, an oft-time contributor to artists such as Edith Frost and Simon Joyner, and a member of the groups Drunk and Manishevitz, Nuon continues his lasting contributions with the hyaline Twin Knowledge. Whereas previous releases were suffused by a melancholic surrealism, Twin Knowledge straddles the tangible and the otherworldly with a quiet playfulness. Nuon's delicate guitar-work is augmented by plinking piano melodies weaving in and out of range, melodious flugelhorns and snaking marimbas, the occasional electronic pulse or electric guitar line, and at times, whispered male-and-female vocals, or no vocals at all. The record unfolds like a delicate yet welcoming labyrinth, where Robert Wyatt and Hieronymus Bosch collaborate to form Nuon's backing band.

BEVEL’s latest release, Angler Senses, is a welcome addition to this home. And is the most confident statement Nuon has made to date. While the ethereal ambience, the glassine-like textures of BEVEL’s compositions remains, there is a maturing musical and lyrical presence. Echoes of Leonard Cohen, Popol Vuh, the dream-like films of Lucretia Martel and Maya Deren, seep through the walls. Sly lyrics capture the numinous and the immediate (“Walking around Miami/Before it was a city…”), transfixing the listener in to see how the story unfolds.

As always with a BEVEL release, there is an impressive set of actors: Emily Cross of Cross Record (Ba Da Bing; Sub Pop) contributes vocals throughout the record; Bill MacKay (Drag City) plays guitar; drummer Quin Kirchner (Astral Spirits, Wild Belle), and multi-instrumentalist Nate Lepine (Cursive, Iron & Wine), who adds flutes and saxophones, all weave their parts together as part of the tapestry.

Angler Senses is the sound of BEVEL’s musical house settling, and its foundation rooting itself in place.

-B. Schulman

Mixed by Michael Krassner Dec. 2020

Via Nuon - Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Piano, Synth, Sequential Circuits Six-Trak
Emily Cross - Vocals
Nate Lepine - Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet
Pierce Doerr - Drums, Percussion
Quin Kirchner - Drums, Percussion, Guica
Bill MacKay - Electric Guitar, Requinto

all compositions by Via Nuon ©2021 Peasant at Rest Music
except for Ancient Air - a piece sung by an old lutenist at an inn in Nankin in 1198 - discovered & notated by Chiang K'uei