Albums
Hard Hold
2015
Release Date: 2015
By Pitchfork
Reviewed September 24, 2015
Melbourne four-piece Jaala make music that's constantly folding in on itself, trying things from different angles. It's infinite origami, collapsing the scruffed jazz lope of the Sea and Cake into singer/guitarist Cosima Jaala's punk Winehouse vocals, which slip between vulnerability and something more sinister. On "Hard Hold", she's losing grip of a relationship but gaining back a sense of self: "It's only after the fact you find they stole your whole alphabet," she sings, tugging at the melody like a magician pulling a trick handkerchief from her sleeve. "Hard Hold" is made of stumbles, but Jaala's crooked path feels sure and thrilling.