Album Review

Hiatus – Parklands

• 22nd Mar 2013

Halfway between a groovy hairdresser and hash tent, Hiatus has created Parklands, a sublime album of calming and soothing sounds. Appropriately, the epistle opens with ‘We can be ghosts now’, which features the tempting tones of Shura.

The desolate theme continues with ‘Cloud City’, in which “we stopped at the edge of the road” and “I lost you somewhere overseas” excel, the latter a particular favourite of the once again featured vocalist Shura.

Taken to the edge of obscurity, possibly now holed up in someone’s desert experience, we are presented with ‘A silver exit’. The reference to precious metals is lost on me, but the call of the musical narrative remains. Shura is back to dig her vocals into ’River’, a fairly annoyingly repetitive missive that is still worth wading through.

‘Fortune’s fool’ has a terribly familiar dippedy dip opening, with Shura evoking an early Sinead O’Connor. Whimsical and sad, from the title you knew it would likely be this way. Nostalgia is an odd enough emotion, but it is stirred each time the album title song, Parklands comes on. The music wends its way, sometimes eerily, sometimes slickly until featured chanteuse Kirtanayas pops in to float vocals over the pleasant pan pipes and Indian drums. There is a definite feeling of loss when this one comes to an end.

Onto the oddly named Iran Air, with Shura back with a few light and gentle utterings. ‘Returning’ takes us back to the floaty, floaty hash tent. The return would seem to be to a steady, somnambulant sound that has whisked around somewhere we’ve all been before – not sure where or when, but that’s not important.

‘As close to me as you are now’ starts off as the splash of cold water in the face that we are by now in need of, but then slips back before blindsidding with what sounds like a whole church full of choristers. All underpinned by a cool and catchy beat with light, breathless vocal interventions, this one is a triumph. ‘Call off your storm’ is perfectly named, listen and you’ll work it out.

The culmination of a terribly well-constructed album is ‘Tiny doors’, in which we are back in the safe hands of Shura. The song, which makes a clever use of the sound of a busy street market, has a sad piano overlay. It’s like those moments you get watching the end of an emotionally tumultuous film. All good stuff. With the album on a loop, I was spun back to the start, and returned to the gentle vibe “bury everything you are… on a hill in Peckham Rise”, a lyric that I like a lot.

Venue: Parklands
Support Band: Self Release