What if you could hear what love sounds like? The Montreal-based experimental pop artist N NAO translates the origins of life and human emotion into sound on her 16-track, two-part album. Nouveau Langages, the French phrase for “new languages,” is exactly what N NAO presents on the project: new expressions of her art we haven’t heard before. Her universe is fully realized through dreamy textures made of soothing synths and nature sounds—a mostly instrumental, ambient album featuring demos, collaborations, and remixes.
Nouveau Langages (Volume I & II) takes you on a sonic exploration, as though the sound is taking shape in real time as you listen. Some elements land and vanish in a breath; others linger longer, circling back and settling into the mix like they’re waiting for you to notice them. Nothing here is in a rush to be understood. N NAO invites you to live in the moment, digest the music, and let the language teach itself. Synth textures blend with field recordings of the natural world, resulting in a tone that belongs only to her.
Birds chirping introduce the first track, “Déjà,” grounding it in nature before shimmering synth layers build and blur the line between organic and artificial. Power chords join with confidence, but then simmer down into something softer and more introspective. Halfway through, a harp enters, and background vocals build a delicate atmosphere filling out the space around the melody. Throughout Volume I, you’ll find beat-heavy pop, such as “Destin (Regularfantasy Remix),” featuring pulsing tracks you’d hear at the club. On the other end of the spectrum, songs like “Fleuron (feat. Helena Deland)” and “Corps (feat. Lou-Adriane Cassidy)” offer a more laid-back listen, driven by angelic vocals. 8 tracks later, Volume I ends with “Chateau d’eau,” a serene piano melody played throughout the first half, while restless electronic vibrations come in and out. By the halfway mark, the pace picks up before transitioning into a bass-carried beat at the end. It’s cinematic, like waking up on a summer morning, bright, hazy, unhurried.
Where Volume I wakes you up gently, Volume II begins eerily. You’ll find deconstructed versions of songs from Volume I alongside new appearances. The opening track “Couvent I” is synth-focused, laying the groundwork for the language the rest of the volume will speak, a sharp contrast to its predecessor—faster-paced from the start. On “Couvent III” and “Couvent IV,” raw textures weave minimal vocal arrangements into electronic elements, creating an intimate soundscape as though you were in the room with the artist. The album ends with “Encore (Demo),” where a pounding bass juxtaposes soft, layered vocal loops for a mesmerizing finish. Volume II brings you closer to N NAO’s world, delivering a raw, immersive look at her artistic vision.
Both volumes represent Nouveau Langages, but at different points of completion. Volume I shows what it becomes in other people’s hands through duets and remixes, offering a more polished and reimagined version of N NAO’s original construction. Volume II, by contrast, strips away the production to show its sound through demos. Together, they beautifully frame the finished album, painting a romantic science-fiction story that captures the array of emotions love brings.
