A six minute gauntlet, itвЂ™s the first (and only) warning shot allowed. While the songs on Tawk Tomahawk tended to peak and then gently drift away, Choose Your Weapon is much more restless вЂњShaolin Monk MotherfunkвЂќ curls back upon itself, PalmвЂ™s gorgeous vocals leading the way, until a fiending synth riff caps it all off. It eagerly swaps from one to the next, assigning the listener a sonic endurance test. By the time the band leans back into a lush Afropop groove, CYWвЂ™s nature is already clear: this is an album thatвЂ™s flooded with ideas. вЂњShaolinвЂќ opens like the Hiatus Kaiyote take on vintage jazzвЂ“ Paul BenderвЂ™s walking bassline punched by drummer Perrin MossвЂ™s old-school swing, which heвЂ™s cut and pasted off the ride cymbal and onto his snare and hi-hat. We are about to dash off into something wild.Д¬hoose Your WeaponвЂ™s first proper track opens from far-off but quickly turns hyper-present and as lead singer Nai Palm invites us in, singing of clasped palms as we drop into the music. Video game start screen voices add to the virtualness of it all. As a childвЂ™s toy declares вЂњThe KaiyoteвЂ™s goesвЂ¦,вЂќ out of the drift a gritty beat arrivesвЂ“a jostling knock the likes of which have by now become the bandвЂ™s signature cry. With its THX-inspired aural bloom, the recordвЂ™s title track is the sound of an adventure booting up.

ItвЂ™s also long and denseвЂ“70 minutes of grooves proffered at a breakneck rate that closes in simple beauty. Hiatus Kaiyote has diversified their song structures and tones in a very real way and, simply put, this is a record with much more in it. Colorful rhythms once more abound, but this time theyвЂ™re painted across a wider canvas.

While the bandвЂ™s central sense of groove is still intact, what Choose Your Weapon offers is a broadening of scope. Choose Your Weapon is not Tawk Tomoahawk, in a multitude of ways. Listeners with attachment issues should be forewarned that the new LP has a penchant for leaving a groove just as it seems to be settling in and on a number of tracks, especially in its first half, the shifts can become incredibly frustrating. ItвЂ™s an ever-shifting work, packed with techniques borrowed from a certain progressive rock tradition that includes Yes and Rush as much as The Mars Volta and prog jazz the likes of Weather Report. After a 3 year wait, fans of Hiatus Kaiyote have finally been rewarded with Choose Your Weapon, the record on which the Australian four-piece opens up their sound into wildly varied new territories.

Fingerprints hiatus kaiyote