UNKH

Netherlands outfit transcend the sum of their influences.

Dutch four-piece Unkh, formed in the 90s, profess their love of 70s prog, citing Camel, Genesis and Yes as heroes. They also revere Talk Talk and Muse, but their stirring of these role models with a big spoon results in something that doesn’t labour under the yoke of copyism. They coax out a lush, dreamy, unhurried sound, and the five songs here exude patient confidence (Paranoid Void is 10 minutes, Dreamcatcher is 19), as if they know, without trying too hard, that their combinations have that special something. They also have depth, which is just as well when they’ve displayed the chutzpah to declare the album’s theme to be “existential loneliness”. From the opening piano stabs and heavy breathing, atmosphere is established. Then songs build and swell with emotional sensitivity. In phases they veer smartly into repetitive kosmische riffs. Jeroen Habraken’s voice is sometimes trickily treated but it oozes character, while Maarten Peerlings’ guitar breaks through like the sun through clouds. Dreamcatcher is an astutely judged journey through off-kilter keyboard flourishes and rhythmic raunch, culminating in a cheeky nod to Floyd’s Echoes.