Hiatus Kaiyote Among Winners at U.S. Indie Awards
Hiatus Kaiyote waved the flag for Australia’s music community Thursday night (June 16) at the 2022 A2IM Libera Awards, where the neo-soul act’s Mood Valiant won for best R&B album.
After missing out at the Grammys Awards, Hiatus Kaiyote made it a large one at the independent music community’s annual gala, held at Webster Hall New York City.
Congrats to @HiatusKaiyote (@BRAINFEEDER) on winning Best R&B Record at the Libera Awards 🎉 @a2im @merlinnetwork pic.twitter.com/j3wMCuiuxK
— Ninja Tune (@ninjatune) June 16, 2022
Mood Valiant (via Brainfeeder /Ninja Tune), the Melbourne band’s third studio album, beat a shortlist that featured recordings by Brittany Howard, Charlotte Day Wilson, Durand Jones & The Indications, serpentwithfeet and Zimbabwean-Australian artist Tkay Maidza.
👑 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗥: 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗥&𝗕 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 💅
— A2IM Libera Awards (@LiberaAwards) June 16, 2022
Congratulations✨ to @HiatusKaiyote on taking home an #A2IMLiberaAward for their album “Mood Valiant", out via @BRAINFEEDER @ninjatune!
Just announced on https://t.co/FRLXW1hZoF tune in for more excellent #independentmusic pic.twitter.com/NNvNLHN3QH
The LP peaked at No. 4 on the ARIA Chart following its June 2021 release, and went on to score a Grammy nomination, for best progressive R&B album, the band’s third nod.
With their win at the indie music awards, Hiatus Kaiyote continues a winning tradition for Aussies acts, with Amyl and The Sniffers, Julia Jacklin, Courtney Barnett, and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds triumphant in recent times.
Held each year in the Big Apple, the Liberas support and honour “the extraordinary talent of independent music sector,” and is presented by Merlin, the independents’ digital rights agency.
This year’s ceremony was hybrid online and in-person events, with its livestream hosted by YouTube.
It’s produced by the American Association of Independent Music, the sister organisation of AIR, with a list of sponsors this time including ADA, YouTube Music, Ingrooves, The Orchard, edm.com, MSK (Mitchell; Silberberg & Knupp, LLP), Redeye Worldwide, and Virgin Music.
The show typically wraps-up A2IM’s Indie Week, which this year ran June 13-16.