Save Yourself is the track that opens Hiatus’ forthcoming debut Ghost Notes LP (Oct 31st), and it’s a neat embodiment of the album’s blend of Middle Eastern melancholy and cinematic electronica. Written during the break up of a six-year relationship, the song is both a lament for lost love and a rallying cry to lost souls the world over.

“It’s about returning to the world on your own terms,” says Hiatus, real name Cyrus Shahrad. “It’s about going through periods of extraordinary darkness and seeking salvation in all the wrong places, before finally realising that the only person who can save you is yourself.”

As such, a haunting vocal refrain punctuates crystal waves of steadily building sadness before the whole thing pauses at a peak, reorders itself around a stirring Persian string section and takes off in a shimmering storm of new-found hope.

“For me, music is about memory,” says Cyrus, “and there’s as much beauty as there is sorrow in passing time. A track like Save Yourself reflects both the overwhelming scale of the universe and the power of love to make the universe seem small.”

The evocative vocal samples derive from Cyrus’ discovery of his father’s old record collec... (+) expand

Save Yourself is the track that opens Hiatus’ forthcoming debut Ghost Notes LP (Oct 31st), and it’s a neat embodiment of the album’s blend of Middle Eastern melancholy and cinematic electronica. Written during the break up of a six-year relationship, the song is both a lament for lost love and a rallying cry to lost souls the world over.

“It’s about returning to the world on your own terms,” says Hiatus, real name Cyrus Shahrad. “It’s about going through periods of extraordinary darkness and seeking salvation in all the wrong places, before finally realising that the only person who can save you is yourself.”

As such, a haunting vocal refrain punctuates crystal waves of steadily building sadness before the whole thing pauses at a peak, reorders itself around a stirring Persian string section and takes off in a shimmering storm of new-found hope.

“For me, music is about memory,” says Cyrus, “and there’s as much beauty as there is sorrow in passing time. A track like Save Yourself reflects both the overwhelming scale of the universe and the power of love to make the universe seem small.”

The evocative vocal samples derive from Cyrus’ discovery of his father’s old record collection in Tehran, dozens of albums by the like of Moeen, Golpa and Googoosh; glamorous Persian singers who had entertained the Shah’s court and the country as a whole until their music was banned by the new revolutionary government.

Drawing on these sources, Hiatus returned to the UK and began taking his passion for DJing to new levels, mixing electronica with Middle Eastern laments and smashing stages from Bonobo support slots to the Exit festival in Serbia. It wasn’t until now, however, that Cyrus felt ready to release an album that faithfully reflected all he wanted to do as Hiatus.

“I spent my teens and twenties DJing tunes in which ‘melody’ was an almost dirty word,” he says, “when I knew deep down the songs that affected me most were those that blended soaring chord progressions with a profound sense of nostalgia. That summer in Iran taught me to embrace that side of myself, but it took another five years before I felt ready to represent it musically.”

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