Hiatus Kaiyote - Love Heart Cheat Code [Blue]

Hiatus Kaiyote's Love Heart Cheat Code arrives on blue vinyl with a digital download card, catching the Melbourne four-piece at their most playful.

Released in 2024 as the band's fourth studio album, it followed Mood Valiant with a sharper focus. Where earlier records let long improvisations wander, these songs were written first and then tightened in the studio with producer Mario Caldato Jr., a longtime Beastie Boys collaborator. A circle of Melbourne friends filled out the sound, including guitarist Tom Martin, flautist Nikodimos and Taylor Crawford on the frello, an instrument he built himself.

Nai Palm's voice still does the steering, darting from a whisper to a full-throated cry within a single phrase, while Paul Bender, Simon Mavin and Perrin Moss fold tricky rhythms into grooves that somehow feel easy. Telescope builds each verse around a cosmic image tied to one member's birthday, and Make Friends is a woozy funk ode to platonic love. Cinnamon Temple, a heavy riff the band had been playing live for years, borrows its pulse from a Malian rhythm.

It is neo-soul with a jazz brain and a cartoon heart, never settling where you expect.

Rajni Perera's striking cover art took home the Best Art Vinyl Award for 2024, so this one earns its place facing out on the shelf.