We first wrote about Irish duo Hiva Oa back in 2013 when the then Edinburgh-based trio put out their debut album, The Awkward Hello, Handshake, Kiss, with Mini 50 Records. As we described in our review, the album “[smouldered] with a brooding intensity,” with guitars and cello joining a variety of drums “to create an organic piece of art which billows and swirls and seems to seep through your headphones.” Having switched up their line-up (the band are now primarily a duo of Stephen Houlihan and Christine Tubridy) and relocated to their native Ireland, Hiva Oa are set to release a new EP, mk II (part 1).
‘A Great Height’ opens the release with insistent drums and sinuous baseline, with numerous types of percussion joining the simple beat as if in thumping chorus. The repetition builds into a near atavistic frenzy, carving out a depth within which you could become lost. Second track ‘Seskinore’ begins with another prominent baseline, this time backed with pretty ambient flourishes which shimmer and glitch behind vocals reminiscent of Thom Yorke. Again the instrumentation gathers in intensity, swelling outwards before being joined by more scattered drums and Tubridy’s vocals following a similar pattern, remaining even for a long while before eventually getting swept up in the energy too.
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‘Christine’ is airy and slightly ominous, the ambient drone lethargic and strange like some slow-motion dream world. The vocals take centre stage, rising from the fog with unerring clarity, playing like the confessions of a man as spoken within his head. Closer ‘Johnny Brazil’ feels like several songs coalescing into one, a magic formula emerging by chance from a radio set between stations. There’s post-rock thump, dream pop drone and indie rock vocals shrouded in gauzy ambience as the track gathers around itself, the various elements complementing one another to build into a squally climax.
“Chrisine, oh Christine,
I’ve shot another one”
mk II (part 1) is set for release on the 16th of September and you can pre-order it now from the Hiva Oa Bandcamp page.