NIKI LOUDER is a noise rock trio from the Kamnik area, Slovenia. Listening to the first half of ‘Trout’, their 4^th full-length, the listener is faced with a light sense of disquiet and confusion. Here, their music evolves with a slow pace, gradually conjuring a spacious atmosphere of expectation before gaining momentum and sucking you into a spiral guitars/drums interplay on the verge of chaos – this is their lifeblood, the essence of their simultaneously messy and succinct sound. Somewhere mid-record, things get more straightforward and vigorous – broken rhythms and boisterous textures dominate the soundscape. They are complemented with meticulously integrated feedback and the dissonance of a ferociously screaming guitar that suddenly overwhelms the listener’s tympanums, only giving up to celestial dreaminess as the last track clocks in. Blaž Sever’s muffled, troubled roar tackles themes typical of the band – a layer of bizarreness, a layer of social criticism and lastly, a thick layer of personal distress. One thing is certain – a trout like this is not to be found anywhere else.