Track: Niagara - Hyperocean

Hyperocean is the third album from the Turin-based duo Niagara which consists of David Tomat and Gabriele Ottino. With each album having a concept, Hyperocean takes one of the bands early influences that has inspired them from the start of their careers, water……nup I also have no idea what this means either, so let’s dive in and see if we can get to the bottom of it (you can see what I did there, genius).

The album begins with ‘Mizu’ and before the beats even begin you already feel submerged in the depths, there are various uses of the sound of water in many forms, filtered through a multitude of effects but Niagara creates a sound scape around all this that accentuates the feeling of being beneath the surface. The rhythmic nature of ‘Hyperocean’ is like waves crashing over you while ‘Escher Surfers’ theme of water is in through its vocal effect, it’s one to listen to just for the oldskool rave stab and deep bass. ‘Blackpool’ takes us deep and low fi, ‘Firefly’ is a short ambient piece that floats away into ‘Fogdrops’ a roller that rides the waves over lush beats on a bed of atmospheric synth. ‘Roger Water’ starts with a warm intro of sound effects and bass interrupted by a harsh beats and strong lead sounds, this hits an abstract experimental level which changes is up a bit but holds it together to create an interesting addition to the album. ‘Drift’ does what it says, drift with sparse beats over calm vocals with atmospheric sounds, good slice of down tempo. ‘Solar Valley’ and Twin Horizon are will placed together, both starting from small beginnings and building up into a pounding full sound. ‘Alfa’ ends our journey and back to the surface with a sense of rising through the track as it builds with a throbbing bass and a choirlike synth lead that hits its peak and echoes into silence.

A very interesting and enjoyable collection of electronica with an experimental edge that doesn’t lose its listener and flows well throughout creating a solid album

Listen here to ‘Solar Valley’