Hatchie – AKA Harriette Pilbeam – had decided not long after it’s release that the sound of her 2019 debut Keepsake needed to be re-evaluated. A conflation of fuzzy shoegaze melded with a swatch of bedroom lo-fi, since moving to LA from her native Australia a higher profile and living in a nexus for popular music has caused it’s follow up to come from she claims a ‘reboot’ of her approach to songwriting.
There is some intra-release constancy, as Giving The World Away sees her again working with producer Jorge Elbrecht (Japanese Breakfast), fellow countryman Joe Agius and Beach House percussionist James Barone. Opening up herself more lyrically, it’s a collection that deals with self doubt and facing into the issues prompted by seeking greater validation whilst not losing creative identity.
Some of the role models the singer uses are unexpected – post punk icon Siouxsie Sioux for instance was the inspiration for Lights On and a conversation on Nick Cave’s Red Hand Files the basis for Take My Hand – whilst the likes of This Enchanted and Twin are ambitiously upscaled from the past. Lovers of the original Hatchie will take solace in The Key’s gauzy pedal storm, but otherwise this is a quiet revolution that’s effectively done.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 