Mood Valiant
Hiatus Kaiyote
Mood Valiant is Hiatus Kaiyote’s third studio album, a “future soul” record released on June 25, 2021 via Brainfeeder/Ninja Tune that marks the Melbourne quartet’s return after six turbulent years. Written largely between 2018 and early 2020 and shaped in sessions in Rio de Janeiro and the band’s home studio, the album channels frontwoman Nai Palm’s experience with breast cancer and recovery into a bright, resilient, and emotionally rich set of songs that sits at the intersection of neo‑soul, nu‑jazz, and art‑pop. The title nods to her mother’s two black‑and‑white Valiant station wagons—one gentle, one wild—and the record similarly swerves between intimate softness and fierce, kaleidoscopic energy, solidifying Hiatus Kaiyote’s self‑proclaimed “future soul” aesthetic into their most focused work yet.
Musically, Mood Valiant reins in some of the band’s older maximalist, jam‑heavy impulses to deliver more concise, hook‑driven songs without losing their rhythmic complexity or harmonic adventurousness. Tracks like “Red Room,” “Chivalry Is Not Dead,” “Get Sun” (featuring lush arrangements by Brazilian legend Arthur Verocai), and “And We Go Gentle” weave dizzying drum patterns, twinkling Rhodes, and thick vocal harmonies into grooves that feel both playful and meticulously constructed. Lyrically, the album leans into flowers, intimacy, and unusual relationships—there are songs about strange animal mating rituals, the healing power of music, and the bonds we form with ourselves and others—making it less conceptually “nerdy” than Choose Your Weapon but more directly connected to themes of love, sex, home, and self‑preservation. Reviewers have described Mood Valiant as vibrant and life‑affirming, a warm, smooth, and sonically diverse record that finally achieves a unity of virtuosity and feeling, earning it a Grammy nomination for Best Progressive R&B Album and a reputation as Hiatus Kaiyote’s most resonant release to date.
Mood Valiant
Hiatus Kaiyote
Mood Valiant is Hiatus Kaiyote’s third studio album, a “future soul” record released on June 25, 2021 via Brainfeeder/Ninja Tune that marks the Melbourne quartet’s return after six turbulent years. Written largely between 2018 and early 2020 and shaped in sessions in Rio de Janeiro and the band’s home studio, the album channels frontwoman Nai Palm’s experience with breast cancer and recovery into a bright, resilient, and emotionally rich set of songs that sits at the intersection of neo‑soul, nu‑jazz, and art‑pop. The title nods to her mother’s two black‑and‑white Valiant station wagons—one gentle, one wild—and the record similarly swerves between intimate softness and fierce, kaleidoscopic energy, solidifying Hiatus Kaiyote’s self‑proclaimed “future soul” aesthetic into their most focused work yet.
Musically, Mood Valiant reins in some of the band’s older maximalist, jam‑heavy impulses to deliver more concise, hook‑driven songs without losing their rhythmic complexity or harmonic adventurousness. Tracks like “Red Room,” “Chivalry Is Not Dead,” “Get Sun” (featuring lush arrangements by Brazilian legend Arthur Verocai), and “And We Go Gentle” weave dizzying drum patterns, twinkling Rhodes, and thick vocal harmonies into grooves that feel both playful and meticulously constructed. Lyrically, the album leans into flowers, intimacy, and unusual relationships—there are songs about strange animal mating rituals, the healing power of music, and the bonds we form with ourselves and others—making it less conceptually “nerdy” than Choose Your Weapon but more directly connected to themes of love, sex, home, and self‑preservation. Reviewers have described Mood Valiant as vibrant and life‑affirming, a warm, smooth, and sonically diverse record that finally achieves a unity of virtuosity and feeling, earning it a Grammy nomination for Best Progressive R&B Album and a reputation as Hiatus Kaiyote’s most resonant release to date.