Hidden
\"The title of These New Puritans’ debut album, *Beat Pyramid*, really should have been saved for their second — *Hidden*, a towering testament to the power of diamond-edged drums, sinister synths, and 13-piece orchestras. You heard that last part right: *13-piece orchestras*. Rather than rely on the proven Fall/Gang of Four formula of their last album, frontman Jack Barnett studied music notation and helped his merry band of miscreants dive right into a post-everything opus that has as much to do with neo-classical music as it does with skeletal strains of dubstep, electro and apocalyptic rock. All of which seem to make perfect sense, from the unsheathed swords and slammed doors of “Attack Music” to the regal horns and heaven-sent choruses of “We Want War.” The percussion is absolutely *punishing* throughout, too. In fact, you might run for cover well before the last track (\"\"5\"\") brings the curtain down on us all. \"
UK post-punk revivalists tear up their own rulebook and start from scratch on this ambitious, darkly experimental second album.
As much as first albums can capture bands in their purest form, debuts can also find them over-emulating influences, regurgitating what inspired them instead of building upon it. That was the knock against British band These New Puritans, whose 2008 debut, Beat Pyramid, had difficulty escaping the long shadow cast by…
It’s exciting then to see [a]These New Puritans[/a] living up to their name and dragging a fresh clarity of sound into the world.
Discover Hidden by These New Puritans released in 2010. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
Heralded as a masterpiece upon its release in 2005, Liars' Drum's Not Dead often finds itself in a laundry list of esoteric influences for any number of young pretenders to namecheck in interviews and to replicate on record - but in These New Puritans' Hidden, we may have found the rightful heir.
These New Puritans make songs that are spastic, harsh, and urgent, founded on coats of electronics and repetitive, vague, and half-spoken vocals from frontman Jack Barnett.
<strong>The ones we missed:</strong> Hidden is wintry labyrinth. <strong>Dorian Lynskey</strong> is thrilled
Hidden is a record unlike anything the indie music world has heard in 2010.
Advance word for These New Puritans' follow-up to their debut album Beat Pyramid was interesting, to say the least. It would sound "like dancehall meets Steve Reich," singer Jack Barnett claimed, going on to add that "I've been writing a lot of material for bassoons." Not only that, it would feature six-foot Japanese Taiko drums,
These New Puritans' Hidden is a magically bleak, fantastically original record. Rating: * * * * *