Nathanael Larochette is a musician not easily confined to a single genre label. Aside from his solo releases and work with classical/neofolk group Musk Ox and progressive instrumental group The Night Watch, Larochette appeared on Agalloch’s The Serpent & The Spear.
His latest work is Earth and Sky, a double solo album that features Earth, an album of classical guitar songs, and Sky, a long electronic piece. Larochette recently recorded a playthrough of “Invocation” from Earth. The longest song on the album, “Invocation” is winding and peaceful.
Once you watch the playthrough, keep reading for a comment from Larochette about working with Agalloch and how it influenced “Invocation.”
Having worked on interludes with Agalloch for The Serpent and the Sphere, Larochette says he drew on what he learned from that writing process to write “Invocation.”
“‘Invocation' is the longest, most intricate piece on Earth and represents the climax of the album,” he comments. “After working on my interludes for Agalloch's The Serpent & The Sphere, I wanted to take what I had learnt composing shorter pieces and apply it to a much larger and more detailed framework. As this song took shape, I knew it would need more time and space to unfold. While my original demo was twice as long, I'm really glad I decided to tighten the arrangements and focus the writing. The piece is a labyrinth of sorts that really captures the space I was in when composing it. Although the corridors seem familiar, some lead to dead ends and others to the way out. The video was once again shot live in one take by the incomparable Mitch Fillion for his Southern Souls series."
Earth and Sky is already available for purchase through Nathanael Larochette’s Bandcamp.
