A critically acclaimed electronica trio based out of the Derbyshire Dales, Haiku Salut first appeared back in 2013 with their debut album Tricolore. Since then, the band have gone on to release three further albums, garnering rave reviews from everyone from The Guardian to the NME. The inspiration for the band’s fifth album, The Hill, The Light, The Ghost, came when band-member Sophie Bakerwood was given a Tascam field recorder, and set about capturing, “little pieces of the world in the same way we all take photographs”. Combined with an active pursuit of all things spectral, the band set about producing, “a miniature exploration of sound in relation to memory”. With the album set for release next week via Secret Name, today the band are premiering the latest single from it, All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace.
Despite their usual wordlessness, Haiku Salut’s ability to ring texture and life out of instrumental music remains as remarkable as ever. All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace never ceases to evolve, or perhaps in computer terminology regrade, constantly updating and refreshing its sound, creating a landscape as full of peaks and valleys as the Derbyshire Dales from which it emerges. With each release Haiku Salut seem to cement their place at the forefront of creative, thought-provoking music, following in the path of so many pioneering female composers from Delia Derbyshire through to contemporaries like Poppy Ackroyd and Hannah Peel. The Hill, The Light, The Ghost might take inspiration from the after-life yet this is music that feels alive, alive with possibilities, dreams and a belief that making great art is a noble endeavour, one that is at the very heart of what it is to be a human and to be alive.
The Hill, The Light, The Ghost is out August 27th via Secret Name. For more information on Haiku Salut visit http://www.haikusalut.com/.
For The Rabbits 