There’s a lot of buzz going around about Groeni at the moment - Wellington based Alexander Green’s solo studio project turned three piece band has recently been announced as a feature of the 2016 Laneway line-up, were named one of NZ On Air’s Top 15 acts to watch for in 2015, and have just released their third EP.
Hinde is a phenomenally well-produced collection of pieces, and the balance of parts within each song is nigh on immaculate. The producer’s attention to detail is obvious and deserving of accolade. Musically though, the EP feels stilted in a way that is hard to explain; almost as if the initial idea behind each song was only half formed.
Hedre, the opening track
runs almost a minute of build-up instrumental before sparse, distant vocals
come in. It’s repetitive and spacy in a well-honed way, but definitely feels like
it had more potential. Truce is more upbeat, features a much more prominent
vocals and is possibly the most well-rounded piece - making it my personal
favourite.
The title piece Hinde starts well, but feels like it suffers from being too long and the closer, Id, is an 8 minute instrumental that feels like a space filler.
There are some really good aspects to Hinde, but overall the collection feels like it suffers from too much instrumentation with no real intent.
Hinde is available on Bandcamp.
Electronic three-piece from Wellington.