We were familiar with their earlier projects (Lewsberg and The Klittens), we have seen them perform a few times (always intimate and pleasantly uncomfortable), and we wrote about their debut EP (Gather No Moss) last year. Yet, the first full-length album by Arie van Vliet and Yaël Dekker as The Hobknobs is a meaningful surprise that comforts like a bit too hot bath with a layer of foam, set out for you when you come home after a cold, boring day.

Helmets Off strips songwriting back to its essentials, leaving little more than voices, guitars, and an uncanny sense of timing (at live shows, the duo is joined by a bassist and a vintage cassette player). Here you hear no fewer than sixteen indie pop songs (including the three tracks from the aforementioned EP, two interludes, and a closer of just 45 seconds) with sparse arrangements that never taste unfinished; every note and word lands with purpose.

Beneath the record’s disarming simplicity lies an indefinable emotional ambiguity, shifting from reassuring to unsettling in the space of a verse, that rewards repeat listens. Minimal without feeling slight, The Hobknobs occupy a space that feels both immediately familiar and unlike anything else around.

Helmets Off—recorded and mixed by Jaap van der Velde—is out digitally, on cassette, CD, and vinyl LP (self-released; with a special North American release by 12XU).

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