Some call it neo-soul, others call it jazz prog rock. Let’s just agree to call Hiatus Kaiyote’s sophomore album—worth every second of its 70-minute runtime.
Released in 2015, the Melbourne-based four-piece’s album Choose Your Weapon was immediately critically acclaimed for its R&B qualities best displayed in the vocals and ambience on interludes like “Creations Part One,” which segues fittingly into the following track, “Borderline With My Atoms.”
Stylistically, the album’s scope exhibits nearly every genre known to humankind in unprecedented combinations. The subtly warm hip-hop beats blend with psychedelic overtones in “Breathing Underwater,” where complicated rhythm guitar and bass carry groovy tracks like “Swamp Thing.”
The 18-track album guides listeners down the rabbit hole of new-age R&B and ensures the listener that play and experimentation in music are very much ongoing and alive.
Photo courtesy of Hiatus Kaiyote.