Every Mover (Red Vinyl) [LP]

"The greatest thing about being a musician is experiencing it with other people, " says Ed Riman, the Brighton-based Eurasian singer, songwriter and sound-scapist who records as Hilang Child. "Whether that's playing with others, creating together, sharing a vision, whatever, I just think in all aspects it's a totally elevated experience when you're not alone. " Proof rings out with force and feeling on Hilang Child's superlative second album, Every Mover. In 2018, Riman delivered his serene and textured debut album, Years. While rich in sound and feeling, the "isolating process" of making the album left Riman hungry to find alternative ways of working. Meanwhile, the "lonely, pressured" aftermath found his grappling with "rough self-esteem and anxiety issues", amplified in part by social media's 'fulfilment narratives'. He set out to navigate and overcome these mindsets, drawing deeply on his own insecurities and those he recognised in others. These themes converge emphatically on Every Mover, an album steeped in everyday emotional states and crafted for cathartic, communal performance. Drawing on a rich spread of collaborators, sounds and themes, Riman uses his frustrations as the impetus to transform the brimming promise of Years into upfront and expansive new shapes. Every Mover is an album that hymns the redemptive qualities of richly expressive music crafted in simpatico unison with friends.