Drenched in a violet haze and set against a backdrop of vibrant red lettering that reads “Hibou,” the back room of Chop Shop hums to life with the sound of youthful nostalgia. The converted 100-year-old auto body shop, with its exposed brick and ’20s ceilings, reverberates with the cheers of the crowd.
The solo project of songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Peter Michel, Hibou is a band where new wave rhythms meet guitar hooks and propulsive drums, ultimately creating a dreamy atmosphere in its music.
Hibou’s set at Chop Shop begins with the song “Eidolon.” Over chiming guitars and a gentle, pulsing beat, Michel’s airy vocals paint a picture of seeing a youthful eidolon reflection in the water, the title a Greek word meaning “phantom.” The lyrics linger on memory and loss, with “I wonder where you’ll hide away/ recollecting yesterday/ to a stranger in the wind” reflecting the familiar sense of outgrowing what one used to be, particularly in one’s youth.
Hibou’s music is often centered on being forgotten in time: the inevitable reality that the present turns to the past as we live through it. To bring this concept to life, Michel utilizes reverb and chorus to create a feeling of distance in his songs.
Born and raised in Seattle, Michel credits his recent move to the south of France for the creativity of his latest music. In an interview with the Maroon, Michel said, “If I compare the most recent Hibou stuff to the stuff that I was writing during [the] tail end [of my] time in Seattle, I can very clearly hear that it’s more saturated with color and brighter.” This brightness is evident, eliciting an almost summer-like feeling in his music.
Michel’s newest album, It Seems To Me, broke new ground in more ways than one. He wrote and produced it throughout 2024 as he traveled to almost 20 countries. This created a unique process of simultaneously recording rough ideas, assembling instrumentals, and revising his work.
The band’s name, which means “horned owl” in French, comes from Michel’s experience in 2010 at his family’s cabin on Whidbey Island, just north of Seattle. “I was playing some music outside in the woods and this baby owl flew down and sat next to me for half an hour. It was a really cool moment and I was eager to tell all my friends about it.” Because of that story, one of his friends bought him a glass owl in Paris as a memento, and, on the tag, it said hibou. The rest is history. In a way, the name too, for Michel, encapsulates a moment in time, drawing on nostalgia for a youth he fondly remembers.
Besides Hibou, Michel releases music under two different aliases: one is called Éclo, which is where he channels folksy, symphonic energy, and the other is Splending, which is where he channels his goofy, crazy self through EDM music. Michel treasures these outlets, since “it’s nice to have something where you don’t care how it is perceived, and you can just put music into the world.”
From the swirl of hazy guitar in “Dissolve” to the audience-requested “Valium,” the night is an exploration of the complicated beauty of memory. The vibrant sound meets deeply introspective lyricism, creating a powerful, nostalgic combination. It is a reminder that the bright moments of youthful summers are fleeting, but it is exactly that impermanence that gives this music its radiance.
