Hiva Oa – Future Nostalgia for Sale

Edinburgh based alternative three piece Hiva Oa debut their four tracker EP on Mini 50 combining guitar, bass, cello, melancholic vocals and left field whimsical sensibilities as precursor to their incoming album ‘The Awkward Hello, Handshake, Kiss’.

The EP swings from the moody looped vocal & cello experimentalism of opener ‘Badger’ to ‘Urban’ where gentle folk tinged vocals sit across lightly strummed acoustic guitar and plaintive heartfelt vocals drawn together with downright lovely cello and harmonica lines.

‘Ghosts’ continues the acoustic theme alongside light touch vocals and perhaps the most upbeat presence of the EP despite the supernatural subject matter.

Not afraid to mix things up the epic final track ‘Morning’ marries a dark subdued droning bass to introverted male vocals ‘I’m thinking…. I’m drinking’ and snatches of distant field recordings before switching structure entirely where rolling drums and cello announce a bandpassed female Portishead-vibe vocal retaliation with ‘I love this town, I never want to go….’. Screeching children playing provide further background as the male reprises ‘I think we shared too much this night…’ before the track angrily explodes into a sea of guitar feedback and drums….

Evocatively poignant, nostalgic and steeped in melancholia, this debut is a must for fans of moody male / female vocal and acoustic work that’s not afraid to explore the darker side of life. An interesting and unique debut – we look forward to the album!

If you’ve not already done so, you can download the EP from the mini50 records bandcamp page. It is available as “pay what you like” so please do check it out.

- Andy Gillham (@AndyEchaskech) for Fluid Radio

www.mini50records.wordpress.com