Niobe [Köln]
Yvonne Cornelius calls herself Niobe. In Greek mythology, Niobe was the princess that bragged about her many children and mocked other women with fewer. Her life ended, as they do in these stories, with punishment (her children got killed) and more than that – she got so depressed and cried until she turned into stone. According to the legends, she became part of the Turkish Mount Sipylus.
Niobe’s music isn’t really stoned. Instead, big-eyed and wide awake – in a mystical way. For more than ten years she has made music crammed with great electronic sounds, surrealistic arrangements and a voice that teases and seduces. It was the voice that made it huge in 2006 on ”White Hats,” an album where electro mingles with sci-fi-techno, avant-country, disco, blues, drum’n’bass, jazz…
Niobe’s voice is extraordinary, to say the least. She often uses cheap microphones and weird effects, true to her personal ideas on electronic music production. Born in Frankfurt and now living in Cologne – two important cities for the more adventurous German electronica. Not a coincidence that Niobe’s albums have been released by German labels Sonig and Tomlab: one close to the members of Mouse On Mars, the second a label where electronica and popsongs are the perfect match.
For those who like Frida Hyvönen, Niobe is a natural continuation. Both write fantastic stories, but Niobe’s voice is also dark and manipulated. On her latest album Blackbird’s Echo, she got help from sharp musicians from New York in David Grubbs, the harpist Shelley Burgeon and double bass player Trevor Nunn. It’s quite an improbable bunch of songs that jump between genres. Minimalistic beats and blurred textures, compositions impossible to know where they will end. Look forward to an unpredictable concert