Another Form of Relief

Hanalei began as a solo project for Brian Moss, a former member of The Ghost. He also seems to enjoy changing his sound a fair bit.

His first full album, ‘We Are all Natural Disasters’, was released in 2004 and was a something that defied pigeonholing, playing around with a folk type while also mixing in a fair bit of electronica. For the second full release though, Hanalei has expanded into a full four piece band. They released ‘Parts and Accessories’ a few weeks ago, and it’s an entirely different experience, but just as good. The new material has much more of a stripped down acoustic feel to them, but they are still able to rock out when the song calls for it. The electronic parts are gone all together, which seems like something of a shame to me, but it doesn’t matter a great deal given how good Hanalei sound as a full band.

‘Resonate Remain’ and ‘Action Drum’ are my favourites from their respective albums, and give an excellent comparison of how different the two versions of Hanalei sound. I think that I tend to like the older material a little more than the newer, mostly because of my recent appreciation of all things electronic I imagine. Both lots are certainly worth your time though.

MP3 Hanalei - Resonate Remain (Parts and Accessories, 2006)
MP3 Hanalei - Nothing Works (Parts and Accessories, 2006)

MP3 Hanalei - Action Drum (We Are All Natural Disasters, 2004)
MP3 Hanalei - Josh & Sarah’s Belated Wedding Present (We Are All Natural Disasters, 2004)
MP3 Hanalei - Anza Ninety Three (We Are All Natural Disasters, 2004)

As usual, they have a website and a Myspace, although unlike most bands these days, they actually still seem a little embarassed about the latter. Brian also has a blog that you can read here.

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