For the past six years, Toronto-based duo Nadja have been making a name for themselves within the underground ambient/drone/doom scene, with no less than thirteen full-length albums to their credit.

After a lengthy 12 month break from offering followers anything new in the studio sense (again, excluding a string of re-releases and re-recorded efforts), Nadja (who comprise of multi-instrumentalist Aidan Baker and bassist Leah Buckareff) are back with their latest effort Desire In Uneasiness.

Unlike some of Nadja’s more recent outputs, Desire In Uneasiness marks a return to the bands earlier sound and direction, with the five tracks revealing a more chilled out and relaxed feel rather than the somewhat abrasive feel of their latter day recordings.

Another really notable change for Nadja this time around is the addition drummer Jakob Thiesen to the pairs ranks. His presence on the album’s opening track “Disambiguation” (the shortest at just over seven minutes long) adds an organic element to Naja’s dual bass sound that was sorely missed with the drum machine work of the past.

Adequately describing Desire In Uneasiness is not an easy task, as the hypnotic repetitive rhythm of the five tracks on offer tends to be devoid of any distinctive riffing or changes in tempo throughout their entire running lengths.

“Sign-Expressions” is a sprawling monolithic number that moves at a funeral march’s pace. But it’s around the middle where the song does change shape a little, with the instrumentation building and diminishing in an ever cascading effect.

“Affective Fields” is certainly the album’s mellowest track, with waving bass effects gently drifting in and around a subtle percussive backbeat, while the follow-on track “Uneasy Desire” is a haunting battle march that slowly peters out to an eventual halt after a colossal sixteen minutes.

Finishing up the album is “Deterritorialization,” which is again another mammoth epic (running close to nineteen minutes), which appears to pick up once again where “Uneasy Desire” finished up, to consistently build before finalising things in a storming fashion.

Nadja is not for everyone, and Desire In Uneasiness is certainly not an easy listen for newcomers to the ambient/drone/doom scene. But if you do happen to be an avid fan of the genre, and have lost touch of Nadja’s output in recent times, then this latest effort from the pair certainly comes highly recommended.

www.myspace.com/nadjaluv