Under the name The Floodshark, William Blake Hyatt continues to build his own self-contained sonic world, where composition, instrumentation, production, artwork, and concept all come from a single creative source. Through Hallow Leaves is a two-track release that leans into mood and atmosphere over conventional structure, drawing on influences that range from Aphex Twin and Tim Hecker to horror cinema and classical romanticism. It’s seasonal, but not the way you think of seasonal music. It’s not kitschy or predictable. It’s giving more séance than a Halloween party.
The title track, “Through Hallow Leaves,” opens with the sound of rustling foliage, placed up close in the mix so it feels like you’re hearing the earth shift around you. A soft, but numb piano line begins to wander, unhurried and reflective. A low drone enters steady like a shadow lengthening at dusk. The piece evokes the eerie stillness of autumn, evoking the moment when the air cools, everything slows, and the world feels briefly suspended between life and decay.
“Retro Sheen,” the companion track, pushes into warmer tones and electronic glides. A glitchy, shimmering synth flickers over a pulsing beat that resembles a heartbeat at rest. Soft pads float in the background as it smoothes out the edges. Where the first track is spectral and earthbound, this one lifts up into more luminous, like the meditative, dreamy, and subtly nostalgic late-night neon reflecting off wet concrete,
What ties the two tracks together is attention to sensory detail. Hyatt trusts the atmosphere as it trusts the listener to lean in. Through Hallow Leaves is a seasonal experiment and a study in contrast of the two sides of the same coin: decay and warmth, stillness and movement, the uncanny and the familiar. It captures Halloween in its mood. Check it out on Spotify.
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Review by: Naomi Joan