nihiti: OTHER PEOPLE’S MEMORIES

[rating:4]

nihiti: other people’s memories
Label: lo bit landscapes
Release Date: October 10, 2010

New York based musical duo nihiti is a jazz-infused psychedelic dark pop/electronica band made up of The Surveyor and Dragan. The diverse, at times unclassifiable musical project, is notorious for their mysterious and surreal live performances  intensified by the bands dramatic light shows, which seemingly meld their sound into the visual.

Here are two free downloads from the album:
Download:Return of Kind Rope

The first track vulture mentality sets an apocalyptic tone for the album which at times, almost lends itself more towards a film score.  Imbibed with subtle yet distinct transitions from track to track, its easy to get lost in the dense complicated layers of music that often bounce back and forth between seemingly structure-less noise to insisting percussion, both interlaced my evocative melodic overtones. Throughout the album, lyrics are rarely used as a constant or driving force behind songs, rather, vocals appear scattered here and there, as yet another instrument, often without distinction from other elements.

Tracks like “the return of kind ropes (laku noc, dusan k)” offers up a beautiful combination of keys, strings and clean guitar riffs with a tone of uncertainty. While, “black cars (a sinistra)”  – perhaps my favourite track on the album – is a loopy beat driven vocal-less anthem, heavy on bass shifting the album mood into more electronic terrain.

On the surface, Other People’s Memories is an album seemingly at conflict with itself; trying to find a cosmic balance between digital beats and organic homilies.  But keep the headphones on, turn up the bass and listen deeper. Other People’s Memories challenges listeners to experience emotion through the complex juxtapositions of these dissonant sounds, creating something that is both abstract and profoundly moving out of its own diversity.

We recently posted a write-up on Viktor Timofeev and his collaboration with nihiti. You may recognize the cover art for Other People’s Memories from Viktor’s work. Below is an image of the cover art poster that comes with the purchase of the album: