It’s a few days shy of a year from when Mark Nieto, also known as experimental producer COMBAT!, released his debut album on Friends of Friends, an ambitious and complex project that took him about three years to complete. Today, he reveals his latest work on the respected Los Angeles-based label. “Walk Home,” premiering today on Remezcla, follows in the tradition of self-reflective, beat-based electronica that characterizes the earlier work of COMBAT!
The track is a nostalgic and uplifting composition inspired by the experience of home. Beyond its geographic implications, the song conceives of home through a deeper sense of belonging. As Nieto tells Remezcla over email, “It’s common to think of home as a physical place: a building or location occupied by a group of people. But I also think of home as an emotional state; a feeling of innocence and youth that is lost over time. The song was influenced by this action of relocation and being separated, unable to return to either.”
For “Walk Home,” Nieto teamed up with local visual artist Sam Newell, who designed a limited run of prints (50) to accompany the song. All proceeds from print sales will be donated to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, a California organization that provides legal services, community education, and civic engagement opportunities to immigrants.
Check out the print above, and stream our premiere of “Walk Home.”