Giving The World Away
Harriette Pilbeam played in low-key indie bands around Brisbane for years before debuting as Hatchie, but this project quickly vaulted her to international attention. Soon she was touring with Kylie Minogue and honing a vision of pop that looks back on dreamy ’90s alternative with fresh eyes. Pilbeam’s second album as Hatchie finds her sounding more polished and classic than ever before, with those gauzy layers of melody bolstered by more danceable rhythms. The sing-along choruses are more palpable than ever too, as heard on “This Enchanted” and “Quicksand,” the latter co-written with Olivia Rodrigo collaborator Dan Nigro. The aptly titled “The Rhythm” pushes especially close to the club, evoking warm flashbacks to Madonna. While Hatchie’s previous work slotted in neatly alongside shoegazing cult favorites, *Giving the World Away* might prove to be her anointment as a chart-friendly pop star.
Released on April 22nd. Giving the World Away tells a story of confidence found, as Hatchie unifies themes of trust, ambition, love and self-realization by embracing vulnerability as a strength. “It’s the concept of giving your heart away,” says Hatchie’s Harriette Pilbeam, “putting everything on the line...the entire album is really me realising that I actually need to do that in order to grow and accept myself.” Its story comes to life in the way it’s told: new songs are intentionally glossy and hi-fi, joyful and arena-sized in sound, articulating Pilbeam’s newfound strength and certainty. In fact, Giving the World Away is a record intentionally built for everyone’s empowerment, telling Pilbeam’s personal story while also inviting it in others to move from the personal to the public, taking the intimate and making it visible . “My last record I wanted people to sing along to,” she says. “This one was more about something you can move to. After kind of floating through young adulthood, I realised a lot of the things I'd been missing out on by under-appreciating myself. It's led me to making different decisions not only in regards to my music but also my personal life, the way I dress, the way I socialise, the way I treat my body etc.” Giving the World Away is about finally finding one’s footing, embracing visibility, and moving past fear of the future to welcome its bigger decisions and higher stakes.
The Australian dream-pop artist’s second album widens her sparkly shoegaze into a brasher, more ambitious sound, locating the edge between noise and melody.
Hatchie rebuilds her relationship with herself and expands her dream pop sound on second album 'Giving The World Away'.
Giving The World Away is saturated in both Hatchie’s sense of self, and her search for it
The Aussie indie-pop artist emerges with more confidence than ever on her second LP.
Cinematic, sweeping dream-pop that evokes the longing of the Cranberries and melancholy of Cocteau Twins.
"You could take a break to recalibrate," Hatchie sings at one point on Giving the World Away, and that's just what she did on her second album.
Brisbane, Australia-based singer/songwriter Hatchie’s debut EP, Sugar and Spice, and subsequent full-length album, Keepsake, blended sugar-sweet harmonies, undulating synths, and layered gauzy shoegaze guitars to create something of a masterclass in bittersweet dream pop. It drew comparisons to venerated artists from the past such as The Sundays, Chapterhouse, and even My Bloody Valentine at the poppier end of their noise spectrum.
Hatchie has made an album that sounds like Slowdive reworked by a pop princess – Giving The World Away is a dreamy LP
Hatchie lets her existential anxieties take center stage and embraces alt-pop sensibilities on 'Giving the World Away' to process life and loss.
Hatchie - Giving the World Away review: most of the time i can keep both feet on the ground