Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
What some may believe to be an insult of description of the ‘synthetic’ sound, is in fact an observation of how far we have come in terms of creating a comprehensive and rigorous entity to which anything is possible. Music benefits from its embracement of the once thought abstract, musicians and writers find the value of intrigue and absorbing curiosity, and for the listener, this Electric Union is one where the scheme of stimulus galvanises all the seams together and creates a whole new universe in which to discover.
Following up from Life on Earth and Hate & Love, Niko takes a more intensive look at the sound of the electro-lounge genre and sees her determination to investigate the marriage between musical flavour, the reverb between the notes, and that of the individual who seeks out the intensity that is carried by the groove of the flashing neon sign and the grit of the industrial pulse in one quick burst of motion.
In Electric Union, Niko, the shortened but enlightening pseudonym of Nicole Vergel De Dios, the time between albums is pushed aside and given its own space, for this an album of reborn discovery, and it is perhaps no wonder that the effects of recovery from a series of accidents which threatened her career, have seen the artist rise above the surface of the beat and set in motion a new agenda, a sense of fresh perceptiveness and drama; for across track such as The Palace Discotheque, Someone To Lean On, Don’t Call On Me, You Used To Have Her, and Those From The Heavens Come, all the anguish, the turmoil, the rebuilding, the uprising, come together in their own fruitful potential and form a union that cannot be torn apart.
The focus is on the energy, regardless of the imagery in the slow soulful movement in the album’s title song, or the drama of the beat throughout the album; and the beat gives its own drive to the marriage between human and machine, once perhaps feared by many, but suitably enamoured and encouraged across this vibrant and modernistic sounding beauty.
To feel the Electric Union is feel the sparks of love, it may be a groove you are unfamiliar with, but it soon becomes hardwired into the system, and one to which Niko is a modern classic conductor.
Niko’s Electric Union is out now on Atic Records.
Ian D. Hall