Following the gripping visuals for ‘Mother’, cryptic outfit The Hour continue their strange narrative with second black-and-white video for ‘Answer’. If you thought that The Hour’s initial burst onto the interwebs three years back was gripping, well, your expectations are certain to be met again with this visceral reintroduction. As with those early visuals, the characters wear hoods, consequentially hiding their individual identity and becoming unified by their lack of distinction. In ‘Answer’, The Hour play with this motif again to the extent that a newborn baby is indoctrinated into the hood life moments after their birth. Much like The Hour, this video is shrouded in mystery and no doubt open to much interpretation, which we’ll let you decide for yourselves. Now for the elephant in every room here at TMR - the music. In short, ‘Answer’ is a stirring piece of guitar-laced contemporary RnB, combining organic blues rhythms, modern production, electronic beats and soulful story-telling vocals. In ways, it sounds like an off-cut from The Weeknd’s standard setting on Beauty Behind The Madness, although the avant-garde visuals take The Hour into a different space entirely - one where explanations aren’t served up on a plate, but instead patience is key to peeling back the layers of this evermore engaging project. - Hannah Thacker