Nika Mo’s debut album is boundlessly creative, vividly imagined, and richly detailed. This is the work of an enigmatic local talent that simply needs to be heard.

Annika Moses has made Nika Mo a name in the local scene with melancholic folk portraits of local life. The artist’s two EPs, Mess Head and November, were largely minimalistic instrumentally and highly personal lyrically, but still hinted at Moses’ talent for creative arrangements and storytelling.

Of Cloven Hoof in Honey is somewhat of a leftfield turn for the artist. It features sprawling instrumentation that far surpass anything put to tape so far, most of which was performed by Annika Moses alone. The album’s concept explores some of the more obscure Brother’s Grimm fairy tales, each abundantly imagined in the lyrics and complimented with mood-setting music. Guest vocalists such as Jacob Wylde come and go, providing the voice of characters such as Death, while Moses’ own crystalline voice ties the experience together. Fans of Anais Mitchell’s record Hadestown might find something to enjoy in this album, with its tales of death and tribulation told through a folk medium. That said, Of Cloven Hoof in Honey far surpasses simple comparisons and genre labels. It simply has too much going on to be easily categorised, in the best way possible.

Of Cloven Hoof in Honey is an enormously assured debut album that any artist would be proud to have in their discography. It’s the sort of work that demands your attention, and I can only hope it gives Nika Mo plenty more of just that.