Hidden Shoal

We’re very excited to present ‘Rank‘,  the first taste of Markus Mehr‘s sublime new album Liquid Empires. The track is accompanied by another amazing video work from German artist Stefanie Sixt which can be streamed via YouTube and Vimeo. Liquid Empires will see release on the 15th of October and is now available for pre-order on cassette and digital from Markus Mehr’s Bandcamp.

Liquid Empires is a sonic exploration of the centrality of water to life on Earth. As Mehr explains, “We are water. Water is everything. It is life-giving and deadly, it is progress and comfort, it is central to our economy, energy, transport, food, warmth, cooling and manufacturing. At the same time, water means purity, beauty and mysticism. We spend the first nine months in it. We waste it and we contaminate it…”

Over the course of more than two years, Mehr recorded the sound of rivers, lakes and oceans, then set about transforming these sonic source materials in the digital domain using spectral analysis and time manipulation software. The result is some of Mehr’s most mesmerising compositions to date, teasing out harmonic patterns and microscopic textures that are beautiful as they are mystifying.

New Connected View Single, EP Out Soon!   We’re excited to present the first cut from from Negative Energy House, the forthcoming EP by US-based experimental instrumental pop outfit Connected View. ‘Lizard’ is available to stream now with the EP seeing release on the 10th of July.  

We’re excited to be able to present ‘Garland’, the first cut from The Torchlight Parade. Vol. II, the second and final part of Slow Dancing Society’s The Torchlight Parade. Vol. II represents the tenth album in the US-based ambient artist’s expanding discography, which began with The Sound of Lights When Dim (2006), now considered one of the classics of modern ambient. The Torchlight Parade. Vol. II will see release on the 3rd of August. ‘Garland’ is available to stream via SoundCloud and download via Bandcamp.  

We’re excited to announce the release of Blood Love, the stunning second album by Melbourne band Summon the Birds. The album is available now in digital and vinyl formats via the band’s Bandcamp page and all good 3rd party online stores. The album will be launched at a matinee gig at The Workers Club in Fitzroy on the 17th of March.

“a fine exponent of Brit-infused prog rock… Radiohead are a clear marker here… They create their own rich universe with narrative character and personality in abundance” – [sic] Magazine on single ‘London Tap Water  

Fantastic review of the new Willem Gator album in the German zine Global Music Magazine. A little poorly translated excerpt, 

Hidden Shoal and Powderkeg Records are proud to announce the forthcoming release of Blood-Red Spark, the new album by English dream-pop artist Chloë March. The gorgeous first single from the album, ‘Let It All In’, is available now to stream and download. The album sees release on the 8th of December 2017. 

“a luminous voice, a smoky alto that unfurls like a plume of cigarette smoke, its velvety tone a sensual narcotic… it’s hard not to think of the mythological sirens who used their hypnotic voices to lure sailors ashore” – textura 

In her fourth album, Blood-Red Spark, March continues her exploration of a rich musical seam in which songwriterly storytelling and imagistic soundscape meet. Beautiful ambient/electro-pop soundworlds of warm spaciousness and radiant sensuality are underpinned by a compelling pulse – a vital heartbeat of an album of emotional concealments and revealments, truth and trickery, loss, longing and desire. 

AWMA - ‘Sterling Hayden and the Great Nobility’

Hidden Shoal is proud to announce the release of Clock of the Long Now, the debut album by Perth-based post-pop project Target Archery. The album is available for purchase on vinyl and as a free download via Bandcamp and will be out on Spotify, iTunes and all other good 3rd party stores soon. The album will be launched at the Rosemount (Perth, Western Australia) on October 20.

Following on from his work with Perth’s sun-dappled musical instrumentalists Apricot Rail, Ambrose Nock explores the fertile realm of delicate, experimental post-pop with his new project Target Archery. Influenced by the likes of Sound Dust-era Stereolab, left-of-centre indie-pop bands such as Lacto-Ovo, The Go! Team and Ninetynine, and a dash of late ’80s Sonic Youth, Target Archery mine an inspiring new seam of life-affirming melodies and instrumental texture.

Featuring contributions from Apricot Rail members Justin Manzano (production and instrumentation) and Jack Quirk (guitars), Clock of the Long Now was crafted in an isolated studio in rural Western Australia over a period of three years. Across 40 blissful minutes, Target Archery weave a suite of glimmering musical tapestries that expand beyond the borders of conventional guitar pop.

“The might of, I dunno, Mogwai is still there, but the charm of Múm is also present. They paint mountains in broad strokes but afterwards they take time to put in Sherpas and goats partying on the cliff face.” – Love Is My Velocity on Apricot Rail