Melbourne, Australia neo-soul band Hiatus Kaiyote consisting of lead singer/guitarist Nai Palm, bassist Paul Bender, keyboardist Simon Mavin & drummer Clever Austin are back with their 3rd studio LP. Their debut album Tawk Tomahawk was impressive although my sophomore effort Choose Your Weapon the month I graduated high school in 2015 was my introduction to them & I loved how they fused it with soul jazz, acid jazz, funk music, nu jazz, progressive pop & neo-psychedelia. Flying Lotus’ has since signed them to Brainfeeder Records distributed by Ninja Tune & are prepping their comeback with Mood Valiant.
After the Flight of the Tiger Lily” intro, the opener “Sip Into Something Soft” gets things going by channeling some heavy D’Angelo vibes for an 104 seconds warmup whereas “Chivalry Isn’t Dead”fuses alternative R&B, glitch pop, nu jazz, breakbeats & neo-soul sings about gallantry being alive & well. DJ Khalil’s remix of “And We Go Gentle” is a lot stronger than the original even if the first couple verses are incredibly repetitive & I also loved Georgia Annie Muldrow’s remix of “Get Sun” equally.
“All the Words We Don’t Say” reaches the halfway point with what could be the most complex song they’ve ever conceived due to it’s countless rhythm & time changes but after “Rose Water” succeeding the “Hush Rattle” interlude comes through with a love letter to the Middle Eastern culture Nai was exposed to through the people she loves, “Red Room” continues with a psychedelic neo-soul vibe with a trip hop twist to it celebrating the gratitude of having a roof over your head .
The song “Sparkle Tape Breakup” chains a MiniMoog Model D, a Mellotron Micro, a Roland JX-3P & another polysynth to suggest maybe she’d still be with this guy if she was more harder than emotional while “Stone or Lavender” hooks up some strings & pianos to passionately sing about her breast cancer diagnosis which resulted in the mastectomy that saved her life. “Blood & Marrow” sends it all off remembering her late ring-neck parrot Charlie who passed away in 2019 & although I’ve always considered it to be a suiting outro, Stro Elliot’s remix of it is better personally.
I consider Choose Your Weapon to be one of the greatest neo-soul albums of the 2010s, so Mood Valiant’s been a long time coming & it’s more exciting to see the Brainfeeder deal propelling Hiatus Kaiyote further considering that it’s right behind the predecessor in becoming the 2nd best of their discography & further proves they were meant to be on the label. Their production complexly incorporates elements of psychedelic soul, progressive soul, nu jazz, jazz fusion, samba soul, jazz-funk, trip hop, glitch pop & breakbeats with their neo-soul style & Nai returns by giving us a glimpse of the new perspective she’s had overcoming all of her health complications.
Score: 4.5/5
Legends Will Never Die 