• Stream: Hiva Oa – Souvenir

    September 25, 2018 - By 

    Blending electronic complexity with their unique strand of primal noise, one of Belfast’s most engaging live & recorded propositions over the last three years, Hiva Oa, have released new single ‘Souvenir’. It’s experimental, but far from inaccessible. Anchored by its bassline, driven by a Detroit hi-hat-led narrative, its crepuscular groove is that of someone dancing in isolation in a long-abandoned post-industrial dystopia, reluctantly alone. With cover art by Helen Tubridy, the trio – Stephen Houlihan, Christine Tubridy & Chris McCorry, with help from Edinburgh’s Matthew Collings and Daithi McNabb –  mangle fragmented guitar & synthesised textures with borderline glossolalic vocals on the track, contrasting space and claustrophobia – as is…

  • TTA Session 11: Hiva Oa (Part 2)

    April 21, 2017 - By 

    Ahead of the launch of their new EP, MkII (part 2), at Belfast’s Pavilion tomorrow night (Saturday, April 22) we’re pleased to present the second part of Colm Laverty’s TTA Live Session with Belfast’s Hiva Oa. Featuring the band performing tracks ‘So Many Lies’ and Badger’ the session features sound by Chris McCorry and Matthew Collings, camera by Brian O’Kane and Colm Laverty and editing by the latter. Go here to check out the first installment of the session, featuring the band performing ‘Seskinore’ and ‘Johnny Brazil’, highlights from their previous EP Mk. 2, Pt. 1.

  • Hiva Oa – Mk 2 (Part 2)

    April 21, 2017 - By 

    Brooding, atmospheric Belfast-based duo Hiva Oa release their new EP, Mk II (Part 2), following up on last year’s in-parenthesis Part 1. Based around core members Stephen Houlihan & Christine Tubridy, with outside help from Matthew Collings, Daithi McNabb & Chris McCorry, the pair lived in Edinburgh for several years before returning to Ireland and instilling new life into the project. Hiva Oa’s recent material has taken some cues in mood from post-punk & experimental electronica, filtered through the lens of contemporary indie music, not without its pop merit – paving a sonic path not unlike that of latter day Radiohead. The EP displays a breadth of unrestricted instrumentation & arrangements by band’s…

  • Watch: Hiva Oa – Jonny Brazil

    March 10, 2017 - By 

    Comprised of two core members in Stephen Houlihan and Christine Tubridy as well as three interchangeable live members, Belfast’s Hiva Oa have been riding a steady wave of acclaim and momentum over the last few months. A highlight from their sublime 2016 EP mk 2 (part 1) (which we premiered here) single ‘Jonny Brazil’ now comes accompanied with a video that very nicely reflects the song’s dominant themes of escapism and grasping for clarity. Ahead of the the release of mk 2 (part 1), check out the video below.

  • TTA Session 11: Hiva Oa (Part 1)

    February 6, 2017 - By 

    Tipped by us as ones to watch in this Inbound feature back in December, Belfast’s Hiva Oa released one of our favourite Irish EPs of 2016 in the form of the Mk. 2, Pt. 1. Having recently relocated back to the city from Edinburgh, Stephen Houlihan and Christine Tubridy, along with live member Chris McCorry, are an act to keep an eye out on the live front over the next few months, not least their eagerly-anticipated appearance at this year’s Output at Voodoo in Belfast on Thursday, February 16 Ahead of that show, we’re pleased to present the first of a two-part live session…

  • Inbound: Hiva Oa

    December 15, 2016 - By 

    Despite having released a debut album and EP back in 2012 while based in Edinburgh, Hiva Oa had gone pretty quiet until recently. As it turns out, a relocation back home to Ireland was on the cards for core members Stephen Houlihan and Christine Tubridy, not to mention a change in direction. Where that previous work traded on a sparse, minimal folk sound mainly built around guitar and cello with occasional forays into loops and effects, their aptly titled new EP mk2 (part 1) sees those electronics completely take over their sound, with single ‘A Great Height’ perfectly juxtaposing sinister…

  • Premiere: Hiva Oa – mk2 (part 1) EP

    September 15, 2016 - By 

    With core members Stephen Houlihan and Christine Tubridy having recently returned to Belfast from Edinburgh Hiva Oa are an outfit currently experiencing a well-earned revelatory upswing. Drawing from the limitless realms of fear, loneliness, abandonment and awakening, their new EP, mk2 (part 1) is an emphatic, wonderfully-realised dose of experimental electronica that wears the influence of Radiohead, in particular, on its sonic sleeve. Where this would perhaps prove a hindrance for other acts of their ilk, Tubridy and Houlihan filter that imprint via a much vaster palette of sound, conjuring everyone from The Twilight Sad, Interpol and Jeff Buckley across the release’s four tracks. Though still…