JAALA To Release Debut Studio Album Ahead Of Year-End National Tour

Venerated Victorian experimental-jazz-indie-rock genre-smashers JAALA have had an absolutely massive 2015, picking up praise and acclaim pretty much everywhere they've gone for their eclectic, expectation-defying arrangements and performances — not least of all, blowing us away at BIGSOUND recently — and now they're poised to cap it off in style with the release of their debut album and a national tour.

The Hard Hold LP — which shares its title with the release's first single — will make its way into the world on Friday 20 November via Wondercore Island Records (distributed by Warner Music Australia), after a gestation process that saw its tracks laid down in Coburg over a one-week period earlier in the year. The album was produced and engineered by the band's mate Paul Bender (Hiatus Kaiyote), recorded live with as little overdubbing as possible to best encapsulate the intangible energy that swirls out from the stage at any given JAALA performance. Most recent single Salt Shaker does much to convey this, with its raw, evocative mix and introspective lyrics — not to mention its brilliantly unusual chord progressions and dynamic changes — helping the track achieve its desired state of imperfection in all the right places.

The band will head out for a series of shows in support of the new full-length only a few days following its release; they get under way with a festival slot at Marysville's Paradise Music event from 27-29 November, with two dates scheduled in December - a show at Melbourne's John Curtin Bandroom on Saturday 5 December, and a Brighton Up Bar gig in Sydney on Saturday 12 December - and a further three in February as support for The Internet, including two at the Oxford Art Factory (Wednesday 3 and Thursday 4 February, latter sold out) and a sold-out show at Melbourne's Corner Hotel on Tuesday 9 February.

Tickets for all shows are available now; see theGuide or check The Music App for more information.

Hard Hold is available for pre-order now.