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Dec 10, 2010Hidden is not just the most original record to emerge from Britain this year, but the most unfathomable: an immaculate enigma.
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You know, deep down, that the These New Puritans set is the one that you'll be listening to in a decade, enjoying the fact that you can never quite decipher its codes, and probably being amazed at how many more commercially successful records it inspired.
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Showing clear progression and monumental ambition, TNP have crafted a stark and dense knockout performance.
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Despite the handful of standout tracks, what makes Hidden unique is the way it flows as a cohesive whole.
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Pretentious? Undoubtedly. Overblown? Yes, of course it is, but we expected nothing less.
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It's genuinely surprising, beautifully wrought and announces TNP as one of the most powerful artistic forces in Britain today.
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Seldom have classical delicacy, rock attitude and pop vitality coexisted with such improbable ease.
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Hidden is a strikingly inventive and original rock record. Granted, nothing is ever completely new in pop music, but the album freshly synthesizes older ideas (post-rock textures, no-wave skronk, Steve Reich-influenced phasing) and current trends (dubstep's delay, chart pop's stentorian synth lines, global beats).
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Barnett's blue-sky dreaming is actually a pretty accurate description of Hidden – heavily beat-driven, almost entirely absent of guitars, and laced with large amounts of elaborately arranged woodwind and brass. Does it work? Largely, yes.
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Hidden backs up some audacious conceits with studious application and winds up a major achievement from these po-faced sentinels of the secret history.
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UncutDifficult to pin down, Hidden is even harder to forget. [Feb 2010, p.104]
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Somber, arty and quintessentially British: that's Hidden the second album by These New Puritans.
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MojoThe overall result is not the studious mess it could have been, but an adventurous, challenging and futuristic recording, albeit one that might cause a little aural indigestion. [Feb 2010, p. 93]
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Q MagazineThe whole album passes without anything you could call a tune, but there's a keen intelligence at work: while fiercely odd, it's frequently electrifying, too. [Feb 2010, p. 112]
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Ultimately, Hidden is the sound of an ambitious young band as eager to use every tool at its disposal as it is to avoid studiously doing what's been done before.
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Here we are not even two years later and the band has taken a huge leap forward. Or, more accurately, sideways. Nothing in the angular post-punk of 08's Beat Pyramid suggested the band was capable of something this novel.
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Hidden won't change British indie, but it should obliterate all expectations as far as These New Puritans are concerned.
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Compared to the negation-for-negation's-sake attitude of their debut, "Beat Pyramid," Hidden sounds serious, holistic, exacting and expensive.
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This record is a tremendous achievement, but in the end, the grandeur of Hidden can be a little much to take in all at once.
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These New Puritans are still figuring out the right balance, but Hidden remains an impressive step forward.
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These New Puritans maintain a sense of prim composure that may appeal to listeners who prefer their dread to be more precise, less anarchic.
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Call it whatever you want-Barnett and his bandmates are just getting started with their musical experiments.
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Whatever its flaws, Hidden stands as a bracingly original statement from a band entirely too new to have this many good ideas. Come December, it may not make any "best of" lists, but it's certainly one of the most fascinating albums we're likely to see this year.
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Lurch into odd-ball avant-pop almost pays off for UK eccentrics.
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Hidden would be unbearably pretentious if Barnett and crew didn't execute their mission with such wild-eyed determination. Instead, it's a chilling thrill.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 67 out of 77
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Mixed: 3 out of 77
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Negative: 7 out of 77
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Oct 5, 2014
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Apr 10, 2013
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VincentS.Mar 3, 2010Genius. The most original, powerful album I have heard in years. A classic to rank alongside Metal Box.