Australian-born artist HAAi has went from one success to another, either with her remix work for the likes of Max Cooper and The Chemical Brothers, or her run of original releases throughout the pandemic, which saw her make several appearances on Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. She returns to Mute this month for the release of her debut album, titled ‘Baby, We’re Ascending’, where she delivers 13 tracks that have a collective run time of about one hour. It touches on techno, breakbeat,
electronica, and house, as well as a few hints of electro and jungle in places. Quite a few of the tracks feature vocals, with ‘Bodies Of Water’ and ‘Biggest Mood Ever’ standing out on that front. Both ‘AM’ and ‘FM’ stick to a rustic brand of club music, with plenty of hoover basslines and crunching breaks on display, while ‘I’ve Been Thinking A Lot Lately’ combines an array of percussive hits that would fit right at home on Burial’s next record. The project isn’t shy of third party contributions, listing Obi Franky, Jon Hopkins, Kai-Isaiah Jamal, and Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor amongst its credited features. While there is one or two tracks that we’ll probably skip past on future listens, the album as a whole is a pretty solid piece of music, and one that deserves your full attention for at least one play through.
Where to start:
Bodies Of Water: Energising drum work and chilling vocal harmonies
Biggest Mood Ever: Dreamy synth sounds meet an emotive topline
Purple Jelly Disc: Big house drums and uplifting vocal hooks
Previous from HAAi:
The Sun Made For A Soft Landing EP (2021, Mute)
Put Your Head Above The Parakeets EP (2020, Mute)
If you like this then check out:
Ross From Friends – Tread LP (2021, Brainfeeder)
Shanti Celeste – Tangerine LP (2019, Peach Discs)
HAAi – Baby, We’re Ascending LP is out now on Mute Records.