Hidden Shoal Recent Releases: [The] Caseworker, Scott Solter, Apricot Rail

It's been a while since I wrote about Hidden Shoal Recordings, probably the last time was the Umpire album. Well, all been active in the HSR world and this post covers what has been going down in the last few months.

One of their latest signings is [The] Caseworker. The band is made up of Conor and Eimer Devlin (Vocals and guitar and bass respectively) as well as Will Waghorn (Drums) and Monte Vallier (Guitar). Their fourth album “Letters from the Coast” was released by Hidden Shoal on September 22. Described by the label as “shoegazing Velvet Underground reared by the Flying Nun label - the perfect balance of drone and chime”. The album has that sort of classic indie pop feel, that if you like the Umpire album you will appreciate [The] Caseworker. It has that balance of Dissonance and Melody which is shown best on tracks such as “Dormer”, “Boats”, “Little Good it did for you”. Without being too obvious with their influences (I detect a little Sonic Youth and the label hint at Yo La Tengo), the album has that degree of familiarity that makes it an easy and enjoyable listen. The first single “National Runner” has a bit of a more lo-fi feel than the rest of the album and has already been picked up by RTRFM. As per usual you can get this for free download from the label here

To describe local band Apricot Rail as a post rock band would be doing them an injustice. While sharing the ethos of post rock, their sound is more than just restricted to post rock (which is inevitable with a scene or a sound as becoming a restrictive genre). Described by Rave Magazine as “Imagine the ethereal pop of early Múm, the whimsy of Sigur Rós’ more optimistic moments, and (occasionally) the emotional edge of The Twilight Sad. This is consummate indie post-rock laced with Australiana, and well worth checking out.” They are a multi instrumental sextet and use this to their advantage. “Surry Hills” features both chiming and almost surf like guitars structures, minimal almost hand percussion, flute, shimmering electronics that ebbs and flows with the song changing from being driven by the multiple guitars back to the haunting flute melody. This track is a taster for their future Hidden Shoal album release which is probably going to come out early next year and as always it is available as a free download which you can pick up here.


Scott Solter’s “One River” is a digital and cd re-release of this US Ambient musician/producers album that was originally released on Tell-All records in 2005. Scott Solter wears many hats also being a remixer (such as Hidden Shoal artists Salli Lunn, The Caribbean and other artists such as Division day and Neon Indian), while working as a producer, mixer, recorder with the likes of Spoon, Superchunk, Mountain Goats, Okkervil River as well as being a member of the Balustrade Ensemble and Boxharp. He also had a release on the Manifold label in 2003 called “The Brief Light”. The label has described this release as “exploring the space between Brian Eno’s seminal Music For Airports and William Basinski’s contemporary classic The Disintegration Loops. The music sighs and aches beautifully, gradually transforming with subtlety and grace, lulling the listener into blissful reverie” and I couldn’t describe it better. If you love the Basinski “Disintegration Loops” series then this will be right up your alley. While Basinski’s loops have a tendency to become repetitive Solter’s music has enough ebbs and flows to not fall into this trap. Although the album is made up of 7 tracks and a running time of a little over 33 minutes, it works as whole piece to be taken at once. One word sums it up best and that is “Haunting”. You can pick up the free single the “Great Cold” here. The album is available on September 29.

You can check out the most recent HSR release here: Latest tracks by Hidden Shoal and don't forget to check out more things from the label here.