Formed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1988, Nikki Meets the Hibachi has toured the southeast, bringing their plaintive acoustic pop to clubs, colleges, coffeehouses, and listening rooms. Fortune smiled on these folkies, and Nikki Meets the Hibachi has had the opportunity to share the stage with some of the best musicians of the past few decades:

Indigo Girls, The Violent Femmes, Ferron, Widespread Panic, Dillion Fence, and more. Recently regrouped after a decade-long hiatus, Elaine Tola and John Gillespie have a crop of new songs, a percussionist (Arturo Velasquez), and a CD recorded by veteran producer and North Carolina legend, John Plymale. Back Around also has a completly remastered version of their first full-length CD, The Bluest Sky, tacked on to the end as a bonus.

"On Back Around, Tola and Gillespie lean in closer to the songs than ever before, and—when the song is right, as with the title track or "Gettysburg"—the results can be compelling. Hibachi nestles big, open chords from acoustic guitars and a dashing acoustic lead into unorthodox, world-borne meters, and Tola and Gillespie drive their subjects to glory. Indeed, as vocalists, they're as well paired as they were 15 years ago, if not more so: There's an even warmer timbre to their complex harmonies, Gillespie floating over and below Tola's closing refrain on "Come Back Around." Percussionist Arturo Velasquez, who wasn't on The Bluest Sky, works perfectly within his surrounding, accenting instead of overtaking, holding the easel as the voices paint the picture."
INDEPENDENT WEEKLY

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