Niagara

Turin based Niagara is a collaboration between David Tomat and Gabrielle Ottino, artists and producers. This is their second album and while the band may say that this is off kilter pop, incorporating elements from electronica to dance music, and has a concept, it is essentially an ambient album.

If you are still reading this then what you’ll be pleased know that the album contains the tropes of the genre: the spluttering pitter-patter percussion, swathes of synths and a production that could perform micro-surgery. However, for the non-believers there are moments that should tug the listener out of the noose.

Currybox’s ominous synth, percussion, spoken word intro subtly combines with an eastern melody, and is almost catchy. Speak and Spell is a disorientating track that threatens a full on R&B onslaught before taking a more Vangelis route.

China Eclipse has all the aforementioned clichés, but there’s a melancholy and genuine power in the track that’s captivating. Vanillacola is an urgent, almost straightforward synth and beats song, the vocals of which brought to mind Prolapse.

Bloom closes the album and really takes to long too. Once past the almost interminable and incoherent wittering at the beginning, it does dovetail cleanly into a grand ending with piano and synths combining to an affecting finale.

It’s unlikely that Niagara named this album with one eye on the critics’ views, but purposely or not, they have supplied a line. So, with that in mind, this album is never totally unlistenable, just inconsistent and as such it’s worth some a listen.