Fields by Hirola
“an exquisite little pop record” – Mary Anne Hobbs
“A euphoric yet deeply textured track that’s easy to get lost in” – The 405
Out on strictly limited cassette and digital formats 17th Nov
PRE-ORDER: http://ift.tt/2zcHMBL
Esoteric electronic duo Hirola announce the release of their fantastic debut mini-album through new music group Phantom Limb, headed by FatCat alumnus James Vella and former Royal Albert Hall exec Mark Pearse.
Hirola comprises Bristol-based producers @lto-oa (formerly of acclaimed electronic outfit @oldapparatus, and a highly respected solo artist in his own right) and @edapollo (who has had releases on Bad Panda Records and Svnset Waves). Their music together is entrancing. More expressive and human than straight computer music, much more obfuscate and abstract than pop music, Hirola’s debut offering has strength enough to scale multiple peaks. From deeply textured electronic production that competes with Kiasmos or Rival Consoles, to lush vocal delivery akin to Rhye, to a dreamy and hazy wooziness roughly orbiting in Boards of Canada’s galaxy. There is enough intricacy and intelligence of sound design and composition here to roughly mimic, say, a Thom Yorke remix of a Tim Hecker track.
Though founded in LTO’s piano playing (he is a piano teacher in his civilian life), edapollo’s vocals and the pair’s shared production alchemy, Hirola is more than just a skill-trade, but a mutual elevation and inspiration, a new concoction very different to its base materials. “It’s taken a couple years of trial and error to develop a sound that’s equal parts LTO and edapollo,” Hirola write.
The mini-album was created over those couple of years of honing and sharpening, culled from an ongoing body of work, continuously constructed, fluidly and instinctually, as a production collaboration. Eventually sending to Phantom Limb through an existing friendship, the record serves as a bird’s eye view over the span of Hirola’s production and songwriting skills, its abundance of sound design, melody, field recordings and room-shaking bass delivering greatly, and yet promising more.
The record was mastered by Taylor Deupree of 12k Mastering (Loscil, Hauschka, Ryuichi Sakamoto etc.) and features original artwork created by Hirola.
Phantom Limb was launched by Vella and Pearse in June 2017, the former having spent eight years in A&R for FatCat Records, and the latter heading the Royal Albert Hall’s contemporary music programming before moving into music publishing. Hirola is its first original release, offered on strictly limited cassette and digital formats in November 2017
