Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by Cheryl Waters, host of The Midday Show on KEXP, is "Night Fell" by Hibou, from the 2023 self-released Arc EP.
Hibou, the solo project of former Seattlite Peter Michel, dropped his first body of music in three years earlier this month. The five-song EP Arc builds upon the dreamy atmospherics that have been his signature since releasing his debut self-titled back in 2015. Now living in Paris, Michel was inspired by “an electric arc between things, or arc lightning” when titling his new EP.
Our Song of the Day “Night Fell” is a shimmering, nostalgic bridge between shoegaze and dreampop with only a steady, pulsing drumbeat keeping our feet planted on ground lest we float straight to the heavens. “It’s exhilarating to be releasing new Hibou music after spending so much of the last several years concentrating on my folk project,” Michel says of Arc. “‘Night Fell’ feels like the perfect song to kick things back into gear. Packed tightly into this track is my return to the lush textured melodies and breezy blend of gossamer vocals that comprise Hibou.”
Michel spent the summer writing Arc along the Canal de l’Ourcq in Paris, before recording in various apartments, bathrooms and rehearsal spaces in the city. The EP was engineered and produced by Michel himself, who also performs vocals, guitar, and bass on each track, with drums provided by Jase Ihler.
Watch Hibou’s KEXP in-studio performance from 2019 below.
