Hiatus Kaiyote - Mood Valiant

Pitchfork 73

Read Adlan Jackson’s review of the album

The Guardian 0

(Brainfeeder)
After a fraught 2020, things fall into place on the Australian band’s buoyant third album

If you were trying to write the words for a sexy comeback song about the candied pleasures of the flesh, you’d probably avoid the mating rituals of the leopard slug. You are not, in that case, Hiatus Kaiyote. The Australian quartet kick off the track Chivalry Is Not Dead with some seductive musings about our mucus-dripping friends, then move on to seahorse sex, hummingbirds and batteries. Singer-lyricist Nai Palm (real name Naomi Saalfield) might not be taking her responsibilities entirely seriously – this is a band that have been long lauded for their inventive, chameleon-like R&B, rather than radio bait – but even without an obvious hit, there’s much to like about their third album.

Related: Hiatus Kaiyote’s Nai Palm: ‘Last year I lost a breast and then my bird. But loss isn’t new to me’