Outer Mongolia by Jacob Nico

Recorded by Jacob Nico in three distinct periods of total alienation between February 2017 and May 2018, Outer Mongolia is a deep-dive into isolation in all its forms, taking the lonely experiences of the individual and expanding it to echo the madness of the ultra-individualist world today. Guitars roil alongside feedback loops and a wide variety of additional instrumentation to form constantly writhing and shifting landscapes, over which towers of terrified vocals recount a series of vignettes. Finding a friend crying outside a late-night pharmacy in Toulouse, sitting half-cut in the sink, getting lost in the windy countryside. These mundane moments are put alongside grander exclamations of self-destruction and apocalyptic visions, showing how massive every moment of life can feel. These are colossal days, and this is a colossal record to match. Yet for all of this, there is another voice alongside Jacob for much of the album – his sister – showing that no matter how bad things seem, there is always someone else alongside us, and we can always pull through. A beguiling mix of terror and hope, Outer Mongolia doesn’t just sound like a force of nature, but like the best ambient music it sounds like the creation of an entirely new world.

All in time

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