NIKI - Buzz

‘Buzz’ may begin with a curveball, the opening one-two of the title track and ‘Too Much Of A Good Thing’ conspiring to suggest cut-and-paste bedroom pop, the latter an expertly-pitched post-Internet take on early Beck records to boot. But a curveball it stays: while the palette NIKI picks from isn’t at all one note – there are slacker rock guitar tones (‘Colossal Loss’), a subtle banjo (‘Magnets’) and even swooping, cinematic strings in use (‘Blue Moon’) – for the most part, the Indonesian singer-songwriter’s third full-length is a delicately presented collection of quintessential singer-songwriter fare. Her vocals veer between a country twang (‘Did You Like Her In The Morning?’, ‘Strong Girl’) and a whisper (‘Paths’) via echoes of Phoebe Bridgers and Elliott Smith (‘Take Care’, ‘Tsunami’). And as those names suggest, it’s intimate and introspective – albeit with a (quietly) epic climax that while not bringing the album full-circle to its deceptively pop introduction, is definitely a satisfying close.