Annabel Alpers and Adam Cooke are Hamerkop. Alpers sings for New Zealand band Bachelorette, and Cooke has done work for Beach House and Wye Oak, among others, and the duo's new record, Remote, is stark and haunting. Out on Drag City on Friday, the release is also one of the more oddly beautiful things you're likely to encounter in these lonely winter months.
"Egg" starts things off with a blend of found sounds and futuristic textures. One can't but help and think of Broadcast when listening to this one, or "We Can Wing", the next cut. This one nearly soars, with Annabel Alpers anchoring things over Adam Cookie's near-jazzy drumming. Some of Remote is fairly precise, like the title cut, but in some of the simpler pieces here, like the marching "Deadwood", one can hear something genuinely exciting being attempted. If Hamerkop are not interested in overdoing it, their very restraint becomes the thing that holds this all together, with the simple progression of the tunes being fascinating in each case.
Lots of Remote is nearly minimalist, with the material calling to mind Victorialand-era Cocteau Twins, and even Virginia Astley. Still, despite those easy points of comparison, most of Hamerkop's album is simple and elegant. Alpers and Cooke are careful with the bits of instrumentation here, and while some of the songs feel like they are about to erupt into something transcendent, the tunes, like "Mourning Bells", maintain a graceful stateliness that remains beguiling, and which gives Remote a truly memorable quality.
Remote by Hamerkop is out on Friday via Drag City in America, and on the seminal Flying Nun Records in other parts of the world.
More details on Hamerkop via the band's official Facebook page.
[Photo: Matt Saindon]