Apologia by NIAGARA

They’ve made something undeniably imprinted with their voice and their humbled boogie shines in a new light.
DUSTED MAGAZINE
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I love Principe records. Every release is an odd, beautiful nugget of metallic Afro-Portuguese joy. This one’s no exception. Niagara ploughs their own electronic furrow on their debut album after 5 years of 12”s & EPs.
MR. SCRUFF
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Cobbled together out of ethnographic recordings, distant shortwave signals, and idiosyncratic synths, Apologia sets its sights on an elusive state of transcendence. Consider it an escape vehicle to spirit listeners away from the failures of what more efficient, more expensive methods of music-making have wrought.
PITCHFORK album review

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The Donald Duck voice during “França” seems to be adapting to this new world of Niagara. But once you go through the portal, it’s all sunshine and ocean surf.

“Apologia” is the first full-length by the trio of Alberto, António and Sara, expanding their organic machine music into hazy, fresh territories. Most tracks in here are concise, around the 3-minute mark, and they appear to us as openings to a fertile underground stream, ever moving. We are shown glimpses of some other world that simultaneously looks ancient and a patchwork of today’s moods of exotica. Throw in some sparse synth work reminiscent of Blade Runner ‘s skyline and you can hardly tell if this sounds like the future or some distant past.

Longer tracks “6:30” and “Siena” help you settle along this pan-tastic journey, acting as centerpieces to the album. “Siena” displays the loveliest flute vibes and gentle synthetic stabs adding to the groove. Fourth World PLUS.
credits
released September 14, 2018

Written and Produced by Niagara
Mastered by Tó Pinheiro Da Silva
Artwork by Márcio Matos