''Escapades'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Australian

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran *Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

Hungry Kids of Hungary Hungry Kids of Hungary (often shortened to HKOH) were an Australian four-piece indie pop band from Brisbane, Queensland. The band consisted of Dean McGrath (lead vocals, guitar), Kane Mazlin (lead vocals, keys), Ben Dalton (bass guitar, vocals) ...

. Released in Australia on 1 October 2010 on Stop Start. The album was produced by Matt Redlich and peaked on the Australian ARIA chart at number 24. The album also reached #20 in triple j's listeners top 20 album poll at the end of 2010. The album includes two singles from the band's first two EPs, "Scattered Diamonds" and a re-recorded version of "Set It Right".

Recording and production

''Escapades'' contains material that had been written by the band's Dean McGrath and Kane Mazlin from 2008 through to the album's release in 2010. A total of 47 demos were recorded for the record with the track list resulting in 12 tracks. A further two songs - "Airsick" and "Keep Talking" - were recorded for the album but didn't make the physical release. The album was recorded in Brisbane with producer/engineer Matt Redlich between January and July 2010 in his home studio called Massive Studios. Dean McGrath said: "We knew Matt before, he's a Brisbane based producer and engineer, and we knew him on more of a personal basis as a friend of ours. And he recorded the second EP that we released…we had a few options for recording, but in the end it just felt like the right decision to work out of home in Brisbane and to do it with Matt. He works out of the downstairs bit of his house and there's a pool out the back, which is great when you're recording in summer, because we started in January, and it's blistering hot in Brisbane. We'd record for two hours then have a swim and keep recorded…it was great! I think that sort of environment its conducive for us to do good work. We just feel really comfortable; it's the way we operate. You're not on the clock like you are in a major studio, you don't feel like you have to hurry…we just went in and recorded when we could. It was a really nice process."

Critical response

The album was selected to be

triple j Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

's Feature Album for the week beginning Monday 4 October and critics were generally favorable of ''Escapades''. It was praised by

Time Off ''Time Off'' was a free weekly tabloid-sized music magazine (street press) that was originally distributed in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The magazine began on campus in 1976 at the University of Queensland as an initiative of co-editors ...

reviewer Matt O'Neill who said it was "a meticulously crafted, stunningly accomplished endeavor" and awarded it five out of five star rating. Brisbane's Rave Magazine featured it as Album of the Week with a four star rating and

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

Bernard Zuel Bernard Zuel is an Australian music journalist. Zuel wrote for Fairfax Media newspapers ''The Age'' and ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' since 1992. He became their senior music writer and reviewer. Zuel is a judge of the Australian Music Prize a ...

also gave it four stars saying "You're really going to enjoy this band. Lord knows I do." MX's Nick Mason also gave it four stars while both Craig Mathieson from

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

and Mikey Cahill from

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald S ...

gave it three stars.

Track listing

All music and lyrics written by Dean McGrath and Kane Mazlin (as noted below): #"Coming Around" – 3:27 (Mazlin) #"Wristwatch" – 1:51 (McGrath) #"Closer Apart" – 3:43 (McGrath) #"Let You Down" – 3:14 (McGrath) #"You Ain't Always There" – 3:27 (Mazlin) #"Scattered Diamonds" – 3:38 (McGrath) #"No Returns" – 3:01 (Mazlin) #"Eat Your Heart Out" – 3:53 (McGrath) #"Set It Right" – 4:18 (McGrath) #"China Will Wait" – 3:38 (Mazlin) #"The Vacationer" – 3:40 (McGrath) #"The Window Shopper" – 6:19 (Mazlin)

B-sides

#"Airsick" – 2:55 (Dalton/Mazlin/McGrath) (iTunes bonus track) #"Keep Talking" – 3:56 (McGrath) (Online bonus track)

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Escapades (Hungry Kids Of Hungary Album) Hungry Kids of Hungary albums 2010 albums EMI Records albums