Enigmatic is the word for this Danish electronic band. They wear masks on stage, are known only as Lu, Gee and C and play minimalistic music in the style of Portishead and Massive Attack.

Of course, mononomic (is that a word?) stage names and masks are not new — Portishead and Massive Attack were pioneers; their music defined a certain style of electronica but all that’s been done before, too.

Silent Riders don’t do bad job. Sultry female vocals (from Lu, we assume) are accompanied by sparse drum machine and dark synth, of varied tempos but all downbeat. We’ve played it over many times and never tired.

They want you to believe they’ve emerged fully formed from a murky unknown world, mixing an organic sound with an electronic/industrial feel, and we can buy that.

Opener I See You is good, the foghorn-like synth shifting in and out of the music, with the drum machine set to funk. Very Portishead. Home opens with a cold, laboratory feel, reminiscent of Being Boiled era Human League. Monopoly Matters is slow and dark but with something of the cadence of a Little Dragon song about it. The album flags a little as it plays but one of the standouts, the lush Copenhagen Dream, comes near the end.

In keeping with the sparseness, half the tracks have one-word titles: Static, Heal, Shadows and Introvert among them. It may not be original but fans of melodic light-night electronica will enjoy this.

It’s out on Music For Dreams.

Or here: