MUMBAI: Today, twice GRAMMY-nominated, Melbourne-based group Hiatus Kaiyote return to announce their new album ‘Mood Valiant’, out June 25th via Brainfeeder Records / Ninja Tune. Comprised of Naomi “Nai Palm” Saalfield (guitar, vocals), Paul Bender (bass), Simon Mavin (keys), and Perrin Moss (drums), the new album is the follow up to their 2015 album ‘Choose Your Weapon’, which Rolling Stone described as “a stunning step up”. The new project comes after being sampled on songs by The Carters (Beyonce & Jay-Z), Kendrick Lamar, Anderson .Paak, Chance The Rapper, and Drake—with whom Nai Palm collaborated on his ‘Scorpion’ album.
The announcement of ‘Mood Valiant’ also comes alongside the first single “Get Sun” feat. Arthur Verocai. The new album has been in the making for six years, but that interval reflects more hustle than hiatus. The result is an album that relaxes into a groove: sunlit, sublime, masterful. Behind everything is Hiatus’ familiar sense of musical adventure, their knack for making the complex sound simple.
The album journey originally began on the road, as they added new material to their sets in support of ‘Choose Your Weapon’. By the fall of 2018, the backing tracks had largely been laid, ready for Nai’s vocals. Then, during a brief swing through the U.S., Hiatus’s frontwoman was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her mother’s death from the same disease was never far from her mind. Nai rushed back to Australia and into the hospital, where she underwent a life-saving mastectomy. As Nai recovered, the band turned back to their work with altered perspectives. Her lyrics, even those written before her illness, took on a prescient quality.
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“When you think your life is going to be taken away from you, it makes you think about who you are,” Nai says. “I guess after the breast cancer scare I decided that I needed to prove to life that the offering I have is genuine. My only wish is to live and offer my experience of time and beauty.”
Then a trip to Rio de Janeiro in late-2019 to work with legendary Brazilian arranger Arthur Verocai shifted the vibe of the entire album. “We had recorded the song ‘Get Sun’, and it already sounded good,” says Bender. “We had no idea what he had written for it. When Verocai fired up his horn and string sections, it was a release for everyone. Tears were running down my face.”
“Verocai is such a lovely man,” Perrin says. “The engineer never stopped smiling, the set-up was beautiful, so after Arthur finished, we asked if we could use the studio for the rest of the evening.” The all-night session brought two new songs onto the album. Nai and Simon tracked an epic ballad, “Stone Or Lavender”, while Bender and Perrin banged out a bass and drum groove that that band then turned into the song “Red Room” in an act of spontaneous composition.
Verocai agreed to add strings and horns and asked if the band would be attending the session in Rio de Janeiro. Nai Palm says: “We were like, ‘That would be amazing, but we could never afford it.’” The band eventually engineered a mini-tour to pay for the flights, and both the schlep and the expense ended up yielding a spiritual, tearful experience for the band— the kindness of Verocai and the alchemy of Brazil left them inspired to create two more tracks for the LP in an all-night session.
Of the upcoming album ‘Mood Valiant’, Bender shares “The title of the album really encapsulates the whole spectrum of the journey. Everyone’s been through some big challenges. I feel like we charged through the mud to get this thing done. And there’s just this valiant, victorious feeling, coming out of storm into calm waters. The sun is shining, we see the shore. We did that! I feel proud of the way this sounds, the emotional depth of it. And I hope that it brings people some sort of comfort in this hard time.”
‘Mood Valiant’ Tracklist:
1. Flight Of The Tiger Lily
2. Sip Into Something Soft
3. Chivalry Is Not Dead
4. And We Go Gentle
5. Get Sun feat. Arthur Verocai
6. All The Words We Don’t Say
7. Hush Rattle
8. Rose Water
9. Red Room
10. Sparkle Tape Break Up
11. Stone Or Lavender
12. Blood And Marrow
Pre-save ‘Mood Valiant’ and listen to “Get Sun (Feat. Arthur Verocai)” here:
