Hey so sometimes we’re a little slow off the mark. Given how much music there is we can be forgiven, but what’s almost inexplicable is that the ethereal, sweet, quixotic, New Zealander Indi had not been brought to out attention until today.
In preparing for this review, there were several times where I listened to this musician in my car. This, I am reasonably sure, constitutes driving under the influence. Hushed drones, light ethereal touches, and slow-moving beats come together to capture musician Indira Force’s lucid lyrics and beautifully gentle voice.
Remember that really cool Anime like video by Doprah? Well it’s lead singer Indi has also been trying something different as a solo project for some time.
This inadvertent blend of sounds coursing through the darkness, from the natural to the mechanical, the close and the distant, manifests itself in these tracks in a slowly enveloping mist. Rich with low-end sounds and an excellent depth of small detail, the work here is as effective as a “surface” listen as it is when you take the time to go deep. You will become immersed either way.
Indi’s structures are in constant motion, making barely perceptible shifts and additions that nudge the feeling in fresh directions. The details fold in unobtrusively, whether it’s a quiet clap or the patter of dripping water. They feel like sensible moments within the larger sensation. Overall there is a definite darkness to this album, but it’s not a dark ambient piece per se.
The darkness here makes you feel like you’re part of it, not apart from it. It is the feel of having night all around you and being aware of the myriad sounds that belie the stillness. It captures our primal fascination with night, pricks lightly at our mistrust of darkness, but ultimately welcomes us into it and makes us one with it.
The first track I was introduced to, Stay, is a beautiful creation, a deceptively simple pairing of twinkling keyboard runs over a blend of ambient pads. Close your eyes and focus your breath while this one plays. It is truly magnificent. It has taken me some time to find a way to encapsulate the work of Indi. It’s one of those “dancing about architecture” moments for me as a reviewer.
This has led me to leave her music on loop for several hours at a time. It doesn’t wear out it’s welcome, and seems to keep revealing new layers depending upon when and how closely I’m listening. The attention to minute detail is excellent, and the songs have a solid emotional through-line. It becomes something you need to hear all the way through. Give Indi a good deep listen at first to take in the excellent and careful construction. Then just let it loop and be with it.
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