After more than three years of sharing excellent independent music far and wide, A Million Square Miles represents a key facet of the Hidden Shoal Recordings story, and is a beacon for the future of Western Australian music. Bringing together a pair of stunning tracks from each of eight WA-based artists on the Hidden Shoal roster, this sampler album is an essential listen whichever way you slice it.
There’s the serpentine indie-rock of Mukaizake and the crystalline instrumental pop of Apricot Rail; the raw intensity of Fall Electric and the shimmering dreampop of Glassacre; the hook-laden squall of Toby Richardson and the lush and subtle songcraft of My Majestic Star; the skewed melodicism of The Slow Beings and the wistful alt-country complexities of Tangled Star. A Million Square Miles isn’t just great Western Australian music – it’s great music, period.
“Hidden Shoal Recordings is on a mission. The Australian label is busy enhancing minds, widening musical consciousness, opening ears, and taking us beyond the sometimes all too comfortably familiar” – Blogcritics
“Finding Hidden Shoal Recordings could rightly claim to be in the top 10 best things that ever happened to me, such is the quality and diversity of their roster” – Boring Machine Disturbs Sleep
Hidden Shoal began in 2006 as a vehicle for the release of some of the undiscovered musical gems being produced in their home state of WA. The label has never been parochial in the inclusion of local artists in its catalogue; rather, these WA bands and musicians are part of the label’s ongoing search for exciting and engaging new music, wherever it is found. It just happens that the Perth music scene is absolutely bursting at the seams with talent.
Over its three years of operation, during which its roster has expanded to include artists from around the world – including Germany, the USA, Belgium, Ireland and Japan – Hidden Shoal has earned a reputation for releasing exciting and engaging new music that is not bound by genre or style. The label was chosen as one of the top 10 favorite labels of 2007 by Textura magazine, and has been dubbed “This generation’s 4AD” by prominent New York radio host DJ Mojo.
A Million Square Miles is now available digitally through the Hidden Shoal Store and all good third-party digital music stores (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon, LaLa etc). The album is also available on CD in the US through n5Mailorder (retail and distribution)
A Million Square Miles: http://music.hiddenshoal.com/
