Niobe – White Hats

“The lyrics are more or less indecipherable, throbbing in and out of the music, seeping into your brain. Not that this matters of course. ”

“The lyrics are more or less indecipherable, throbbing in and out of the music, seeping into your brain. Not that this matters of course. “

Beguiling and distant, almost murky, as though some mad scientist programmed beats in 1910 and set them down on some wax disc. Niobe’s fourth release, White Hats opens with the throbbing of simple electronica effortlessly fused with a soulful voice reminiscent of those old blues records from the very earliest days of recording, buzzing with background noise, so very very separate, but simultaneously so bewitching and infectious.


 


Single Give All To Love opens, building on this template with thoroughly modern xylophone plinks and a distinctly French feel. The lyrics are more or less indecipherable, throbbing in and out of the music, seeping into your brain. Not that this matters of course. Niobe’s voice is expressive and sexy; you get plenty enough meaning from it.


This is all sounding as though it might get a little droney, filter into your consciousness, but White Hats is not entirely lacking in hooks – Surround Your Hover is all jazzy drumming, clear, plucked guitar, soothing flute and sounds more like a proper song than much of the album. 


 


This isn’t a record designed to grant you with instant satisfaction though; it’s a mood album. The title itself gives you an idea, White Hats, the French Alps, pretty boys at the après-ski, holidays and clean skies, being somewhere you almost feel you ought not be and holiday memories.  It’s an album about mountains, but not in the stunning, megalithic post-rock sense. It’s the gentle grace of taming the mountains for pleasure, taking them for granted and soaking up their atmosphere whilst never giving a thought to what they truly are. And this can be stunningly beautiful too.


 


Words: Tristan Burke.