Interlude “Sip Into Something Soft,” eases us from that gentle opening into the unexpectedly electronic “Chivalry Is Not Dead.” It would be a more straightforwardly sexual song if its references to intimacy were not filtered through slugs, seahorses and hummingbirds. Verocai’s strings - on “Get Sun” and “Stone Or Lavender,” in particular - contribute to the complexity and polished sound to this record, which is, above all, impeccably arranged. Arthur Verocai)” and “Stone Or Lavender,” which he also arranged.

“Flight Of The Tiger Lily” gets the album off to a soft, otherworldly start, introducing the strings that flow throughout the album, most notably on “Get Sun (feat.

Following personal and worldwide events, the band could’ve driven the black Valiant Safari, but they chose optimism and hope instead. In record’s visuals, a white Valiant Safari station wagon is featured prominently - adorned with the album title, graffiti-like, sprawling across it. It has a gorgeous righteousness to it and we want people to feel valiant and beautiful, regardless of what mood they’re in, when they experience the music.” Saalfield’s mother died of breast cancer when she was 11, and that loss, along with Saalfield’s own experience with cancer, heavily informed the record - the band recorded most of the album, aside from her vocals, back in 2018 before her diagnosis and treatment.īut Mood Valiant is not a dark, mournful album. Saalfield also said in an interview with The Guardian, “Valiant is also such a beautiful word. Saalfield explained, “She usually drove the white one, but on the days you knew not fuck with her, she drove the bad-ass black one.” The name of the album references the cars Saalfield’s mother owned according to the record’s origin story, Saalfield’s mother had two Valiant Safari station wagons, one black and one white, and would choose which one to drive depending on her mood. Saalfield told NPR, “I'm super stoked that we have new music out, because I became obsessed with the concept that I was going to die before we finished it,” and that music was an essential processing tool for what she was going through. Mood Valiant has been six years in the making, with solo projects, a breast cancer diagnosis for Hiatus Kaiyote’s lead singer and guitarist, Naomi Saalfield (aka Nai Palm) - whose cancer is now in remission after a mastectomy - and a pandemic interrupting and influencing it’s creation. This week’s album is Mood Valiant, the third record from Australian band Hiatus Kaiyote. Every week, we tell you about an album we think you need to spend time with.

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