Hot Variety is the seventh full-length release from Adam Hattaway & The Haunters and it might be their most immediate, unfiltered record yet.
Recorded entirely to tape across three sessions over three years, Hot Variety is a fully analog affair. The arrangements are lean, the sonics dry and intimate, and every performance is captured as it happened. The vocals were tracked in full takes, not pieced together, giving the songs a live-wire energy. “Every decision was made to serve the feel”.
Stylistically, Hot Variety carries echoes of 2024’s High Horse, but leans further into rock and roll grit. “We like the sound of old music. That old, dark, warm sound and I think we made that happen,” says Hattaway. “There are limitations when you record to tape, but those limits give you focus.”
There’s variety here, but nothing drifts. “Ted Danson”, the first single is three minutes of rock’n’roll stumbling through a disco: swampy Rhodes, busted guitars, pounding congas, and a beat from a vintage organ hauled into the hills of Ōtiake just for its drum machine. “Two Roads” goes somewhere darker, inspired by the haunting true story behind Heavenly Creatures, Hattaway’s acoustic guitar is pushed to the edge and is wrapped in ghostly Hammond and bowed guitar. “The Last to Leave” is a strutting, loose-limbed and Stones-esque dance track, while “Baby It’s Cruel” hits straight into soul, carried by Hattaway’s falsetto. The lush, harmony-soaked “Only Love Remains” nods to Neil Young and the Beach Boys. On “Small Town,” the storytelling cuts deeper, a soul tune with teeth, full of tension and heat.
At the heart of the album is “Wild and Alone”, anchored by a haunting slide guitar and sitting somewhere between vintage Americana and indie rock, the lyrics evoke feelings of frustration and resignation, with a flicker of hope. Capturing that uneasy space between boredom and restlessness. A core theme throughout the album.
Hot Variety is out today on all digital platforms, with a very limited vinyl release (100 copies) via Leather Jacket Records.
The Hot Variety album release tour kicks off October 11th at Ōtautahi’s Space Academy before crossing the Tasman.