ALBUM REVIEW: Haiku Salut – The Hill, The Light, The Ghost

Secret Name

Released: 27.08.21

Each new Haiku Salut album seems to develop a particular aspect of their previous work and take it to another level. This – their fifth – is their best yet, a nine-song cycle of, for the most part, sweetly melancholic, (occasionally haunted) pastoralism. Built from field recordings and thus full of memory and temporality and loss, they’ve moved into a rich sonic territory not a million miles from artists like Field Works, Cassandra Jenkins and recent Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, all releasing stunning albums in recent weeks.

There are hints of Moondog here too, from his Westward Ho! phase, and even Virginia Astley. Some tracks shimmer and hang in the air like motes of dust, others pulse and scurry. Each one is really, really beautiful.