One to watch: Hatis Noit
The word “spellbinding” has been liberally daubed over everything from reviews of the musical Wicked to every album Bon Iver has ever released (and don’t get us started on “achingly beautiful”). But if you take it to mean the kind of alchemy that stops you in your tracks and leaves you slack-jawed, Hatis Noit may seem magical.
Live, she closes her eyes and loops her voice, like Meredith Monk, Matias Aguayo and Björk, layering drones and trills as if she’s a one-woman choir trying to tap into some primeval, mystical energy (she decided to become a singer after hearing a female Buddhist monk chanting at a temple). Her songs include Inori, a prayer for those who didn’t survive the 2011 tsunami; others pair Gregorian chants with gagaku, imperial court music from ancient Japan. A sell-out performance with the London Contemporary Orchestra in December is said to have moved the audience to tears.
Noit is a Japanese musician living in London and signed to Erased Tapes, home of neoclassical poster boy Nils Frahm. It’s rare for an experimental artist to have such crossover, but Noit has found fans in David Lynch, who selected her to perform at his 2019 Manchester international festival showcase, and super-producer Rick Rubin, whose US Showtime documentary series Shangri-La she appeared in last August. Her 2018 EP Illogical Dance is the best introduction to her beguiling sound so far; her debut album is due around summertime.
