Throughout the month of May 2011, Hidden Shoal Recordings is celebrating its fifth birthday. The celebrations kick off on Friday 6 May with the release of its latest free sampler album, Hydrozoa, which compiles 18 singles released over the last 18 months. Other delicious surprises will be revealed in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for more info.

Since starting up in Perth, Western Australia in 2006, Hidden Shoal has developed an enviable roster of genre-defying global and local recording artists. With 40+ acts from 10+ different countries ranging from the gorgeous neo-classical/minimal ambient of Antonymes through to the genius space-pop of Hotels and beyond the visionary team at Hidden Shoal continues to play an integral role in promoting exciting new independent music.

We’ve just started playing with 8tracks in the hope of getting regular mixes published for your listening pleasure. We’ll test the platform out a little more and if it feels good then expect more of these to come. Here’s something gentle and exploratory to start the show.

Hidden Shoal Recordings today announced the release of the new single by Rome-based post-ambient composer Elisa Luu.

‘Come’ is a stunning and subtly devastating slice of ambient electronica. The brand new track is a delicious appetiser for Elisa Luu’s next full-length on Hidden Shoal. It overlays levitating guitars and droning synths in heartbreaking counterpoint. ‘Come’ re-enforces Elisa Luu’s place as one of the leading proponents of the post-ambient guard, creating work via alchemy rather than simple marriage. The track is bundled with the epic and aptly titled ‘Pixie Space Rock’, the second song to be released from debut album Chromatic Sigh. Together, these stunning tracks betray a sensitivity that is rarely found in the often male-dominated sphere of electronica. With its sighing, lilting qualities, Elisa Luu’s music creates a blissful, liminal realm where everything is rendered transformative.

“A stellar work of ambience, Chromatic Sigh refracts the sound of cool intelligence. As far as descriptions go, you can trot out the usual suspects, like shimmering and sparkling, because they apply in abundance… There’s something cyclical about the music on Chromatic Sigh, and electronically this places listeners in the wondrous open spaces that still boom quietly in our natural world. These spaces are Elisa Luu’s sonic gift to the chumps stranded in suburbia or packed away in cramped apartments.” - Delusions of Adequacy

‘Come’ along with bonus track ‘Pixie Space Rock’ is available for free download from the Hidden Shoal Store. Elisa Luu’s Chromatic Sigh is also available through Hidden Shoal. Read a full press release here.

Elisa Luu – Come Elisa Luu – Come

Elisa Luu received a lovely review of her debut release Chromatic Sigh this week from the French Blog Ether Real. For those not fluent with the language, you can read a translated excerpt in Elisa’s reviews section here.

Elisa Luu – The Garden Elisa Luu – The Garden