''Mood Valiant'' is the third studio album by Australian neo-soul

quartet In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations o ...

Hiatus Kaiyote Hiatus Kaiyote () is an Australian jazz/funk band formed in Melbourne in 2011, made up of singer/guitarist Nai Palm, bassist Paul Bender, keyboardist Simon Mavin, and drummer Perrin Moss. History 2011–2013: Formation and ''Tawk Tomahawk'' In ...

, released in 2021 on

Brainfeeder Brainfeeder is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California, founded by Flying Lotus in 2008, focusing on electronic music and instrumental hip hop. It has signed artists such as Ras G, Samiyam, The Gaslamp Killer, Thundercat, The ...

. The album peaked at number 4 on the

ARIA charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. At the

2021 ARIA Music Awards The 2021 ARIA Music Awards are the 35th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) and consist of a series of awards, including the 2021 ARIA Artisan Awards, ARIA H ...

, the album was nominated for Best Soul/R&B Release. At the

2021 Music Victoria Awards The 2021 Music Victoria Awards were the 16th Annual Music Victoria Awards. The ceremony took place on 9 December 2021 at the Melbourne Recital Centre. The 2021 awards featured a number of changes, including a brand new category for Best Pop Act ...

, the album was nominated for Best Victorian Album. At the

AIR Awards of 2022 The 2022 AIR Awards is the sixteenth annual Australian Independent Record Labels Association Music Awards ceremony (generally known as the AIR Awards). It took place on 4 August 2022 in Adelaide. The nominations were revealed on 18 May 2022 wi ...

, the album won Best Independent Jazz Album or EP.

Background

Singer/guitarist

Nai Palm Naomi Saalfield (born 15 May 1989), known professionally as Nai Palm, is an Australian musician, best known as the vocalist, guitarist and occasional pianist for the jazz/funk band Hiatus Kaiyote. Early life Nai Palm was born Naomi Grace Saal ...

revealed on 18 October 2018 that she had been diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

. She composed many of the songs that would later appear on ''Mood Valiant'' during the period of her treatment and noted how her diagnoses changed her perspective on life, a theme explored on the album. The title of the album was inspired by Nai Palm's mother, who owned two Valiant Safari

station wagons A station wagon ( US, also wagon) or estate car ( UK, also estate), is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door ( ...

, one white and one black, and would drive whichever would suit her mood for the day.

Critical reception

''Mood Valiant'' received critical acclaim, with critics praising their emotional richness, arrangement, effortless melodies, soulful vocals, and liveliness. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 84 based on 7 sources, indicating "universal acclaim". ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' reviewer Aldan Jackson felt that ''Mood Valiant'' was "the first Hiatus Kaiyote album that doesn’t sound like merely a recorded live set" and "their best album yet". Tyler Jenke of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' described the album as containing "hypnotic, almost kaleidoscopic compositions". Rebecca Sibley of '' Clash'' said that the album is "a strong follow-up to ''

Choose Your Weapon ''Choose Your Weapon'' is the second studio album by Australian neo-soul quartet Hiatus Kaiyote, first released in 1 May 2015 through Flying Buddha and Sony Masterworks. Following the release of the band's debut album ''Tawk Tomahawk'' (2012) and ...

'' and a perfect soundtrack for the summer" with its "rich, colourful soundscapes, tropical atmosphere, and lead singer Nai Palm’s soulful voice".

Awards and nominations

Track listing

Personnel

– guitar, vocals * Paul Bender – bass * Simon Mavin – keyboards * Perrin Moss – drums

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2021 albums Hiatus Kaiyote albums