The album's production is characterised as being filled with "brain-liquifying synth-grooves, arousingly-unsettling time signature shifts," and "agile polyrhythms." The album's music was described as not being one genre but instead taking a variety of influences from a wide range of musical genres, including jazz, soul, R&B, West African funk, samba and Latin. Music and lyrics Ĭhoose Your Weapon is a neo soul album consisting of eighteen tracks, lasting seventy minutes.
“Breathing Underwater” is a song that Palm wrote when she and the band were on tour. The interludes were written and produced when the band would gather and just be "vibing as musicians." Some of the songs on the album– like “Fingerprints”– were written when she was 16 and “Jekyll” was one of the first songs she ever wrote. All the album's tracks were written by Nai Palm. When recording the album the band wanted to create a body of work that was not "temporary" stating that "everyone is just looking to release the next hot single, this record is in tribute to listening to an album from start to finish where there is a narrative that takes you to all these different soundscapes." The band recorded the songs individually and then put them in order with the interludes.
During the recording the band wanted to pay tribute to the format of a mixtape, so they incorporated a range of interludes. Lead vocalist Nai Palm described the album as an "extension" of their debut, and stated she and the band had no intention to make a one genre body of work. Nai Palm served as the album's writer, vocalist, guitar and keyboard provider, Paul Bender provided guitar, keyboards and programming, Simon Mavin also provided keyboards, vocoder and percussion alongside Perrin Moss who provided keyboards, drums and percussion. Recording sessions for the album took place in Australia and the United States at various studios including Ghost Oak Studios in Mornington Peninsula, Australia, Headshell Hideout, Oakland Studios, Sound Park Studios, Willow Grove Studios all in Melbourne, Australia and Instrument Zoo in Miami. Not long after, Hiatus Kayiote was playing on air in Los Angeles and soon came to the attention of Animal Collective, The Dirty Projectors, and Erykah Badu. ĭuring the tour Hiatus Kayiote met Taylor McFerrin, whom they credit for bringing them international attention after catching the last part of Hiatus' set in January 2014. Three additional backing vocalists: Jace, Loreli, and Jay Jay were added for this tour. In 2014, the band joined forces with hip hop artist Remi, the multi-faceted Kirkis, producer Silent Jay and vocalist Jace XL to embark on an Australia-wide tour titled 'The Sonic Architects National Conference'. The band began receiving attention in 2013, when they were nominated for a Grammy for Best R&B Performance for their song "Nakamarra", performed with Q-Tip, but lost out to Snarky Puppy and Lalah Hathaway's recording "Something".
The song "Breathing Underwater" was nominated for Best R&B Performance at the 58th Grammy Awards. The album saw some commercial success and debuted at #22 on the Australian albums chart. Upon release, the album was met with universal acclaim from music critics, who praised the album's production and musical structure, and was named as one of the year’s best albums. All members of the band contributed lyrics and production, while Salaam Remi, the founder of Flying Buddha, served as the album's executive producer. Thematically, the album's songs touch upon topics such as the supernatural, technology and death. Over the span of two years, recording sessions took place in Australia and the United States.Ĭhoose Your Weapon is a neo soul album that takes influence from a variety of genres including jazz, soul, R&B, progressive rock, West African funk, and samba and Latin grooves. Following the release of the band's debut album Tawk Tomahawk (2012) and their first Grammy nomination, Hiatus Kaiyote went on to tour throughout 2014. Choose Your Weapon is the second studio album by Australian neo-soul quartet Hiatus Kaiyote, first released in through Flying Buddha and Sony Masterworks.