(Pitchfork earns a commission from purchases made through affiliate links on our site.)Ĭatch up every Saturday with 10 of our best-reviewed albums of the week. On their best album yet, Hiatus Kaiyote shine by building an architecture around these emotions, coming alive when they allow themselves to be more than just a great band. But even when she pares down her lyrics to simple paeans of love, lust, and devotion, her voice animates the words with pathos and meaning. Nai Palm is an endearingly stoney lyricist, and, sure enough, she starts off “Chivalry Is Not Dead” with an erotic verse that sounds like it was inspired by a blazed viewing of a nature documentary: “If I were a leopard slug,” she sings, “I would reach out with the blue rose of ours, wrapping myself around you.” Digging more deeply into these feelings-not to mention the genderfucked reproductive practices they imply-could be a worthy next step. The precision and intensity of the music veers toward dubstep, with a grinding half-time lurch punctuated by Moss’ massive kick drum.įor all the dynamism of their music, Hiatus Kaiyote have only a couple of lyrical moods: sultry or ecstatic. In several winning moments, they introduce string arrangements from Brazilian composer Arthur Verocai, bringing a regal spirit to lead single “Get Sun” and the piano ballad “Stone or Lavender.” On the riotous, mid-album highlight “All the Words We Don’t Say,” Hiatus Kaiyote are in their bag. It is the most vibrant they’ve ever sounded on record.

This is the first Hiatus Kaiyote album that doesn’t sound like merely a recorded live set you can hear them using the studio to expand their vision of what the band can be.

In the hookier moments, Hiatus Kaiyote sound like songwriters and performers in equal measure, living up to their self-appointed genre of “future soul”: husky, cyberpunk R&B, with Nai Palm’s molten voice at its core. Bassist Paul Bender and drummer Perrin Moss are characteristically locked in, guiding us through kaleidoscopic sounds. On “Chivalry Is Not Dead,” keyboardist Simon Mavin juggles synths that creak and yawn. But the band soon ventures into new territory.

The fundamentals of their sound-like the twinkling Rhodes electric piano that shows up in the brief and tender “Sip Into Something Soft”-are still present. No longer content with merely capturing the sound of four wildly talented musicians in a room together, they transform into something more expansive and psychedelic. On Mood Valiant, Hiatus Kaiyote creeps closer to a unity of virtuosity and feeling.

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