Hiatus Kaiyote: Mood Valiant Red & Black Vinyl

Why you'll love it

This indie exclusive comes on 140g red & black vinyl with a lyrics and photo book. Mood Valiant scored 84 on Metacritic, and it won Best Independent Jazz Album or EP at the 2022 AIR Awards.

This edition

Indie exclusive
Red & black vinyl
140g vinyl
Lyrics and photo book
Stereo mix

About the album

Hiatus Kaiyote have always sounded like four musicians trying to fit a whole record collection into every song, and Mood Valiant, the follow-up to Choose Your Weapon, finds them doing it with more space and patience. The Melbourne band produced and mixed it themselves, tracking at studios in Park Orchards, Coburg, Preston and Collingwood, at Rockinghorse in Byron Bay and at a studio in Rio de Janeiro.

Nai Palm's voice is front and centre, elastic and soulful, over Paul Bender's bass, Simon Mavin's keys and Perrin Moss's drums. "Chivalry Is Not Dead" and "Get Sun" are the showpieces, "Sparkle Tape Break Up" and "Stone or Lavender" bend the shapes a little further, and "Blood and Marrow" brings things to a graceful close. Rolling Stone heard hypnotic, almost kaleidoscopic compositions, and Clash praised its rich, colourful soundscapes and tropical atmosphere, which is about right for a record that ended up partly in Brazil.

It also earned the band a Grammy nomination for Best Progressive R&B Album, the very category their Brainfeeder labelmate Thundercat had won the year before. The label, it seems, has that category on speed dial.

Also at Kops: more Hiatus Kaiyote on vinyl · browse Hip Hop / R&B

Tracklist

Side A
1. Flight Of The Tiger Lily
2. Sip Into Something Soft
3. Chivalry Is Not Dead
4. And We Go Gentle
5. Get Sun
6. All The Words We Don't Say

Side B
1. Hush Rattle
2. Rose Water
3. Red Room
4. Sparkle Tape Break Up
5. Stone Or Lavender
6. Blood And Marrow