Adam Hattaway & The Haunters – Hot Variety (13th Floor Album Review)
Adam Hattaway and the Haunters return with Hot Variety, a stripped-back, emotionally resonant collection that distills their genre-hopping journey from indie rock to country soul into one of their most immediate records yet.
Recorded to tape and pressed in just 100 vinyl copies, the album celebrates imperfection, urgency, and the kind of honesty only a seasoned live band can deliver.
The album kicks off with Ted Danson, a paradoxical opener: heartbreak disguised as an upbeat indie-rock anthem. The rough guitar strums and energetic tempo clash beautifully with the melancholic theme, setting up an album that thrives on emotional contrasts.
Already released as a single, Two Roads is the darkest and most haunting track. Inspired by the true story behind Heavenly Creatures and partly written in Hattaway’s sleep, it carries an eerie, dreamlike quality. Aggressive acoustic guitar, ghostly Hammond organ, and bowed textures create a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere. The video, full of gravel-road sprints and behind-the-scenes footage, mirrors the urgency of the music itself.
At the center lies Strange Vacation, the album’s surreal detour. Dreamlike and disorienting, it feels like stepping into a fever dream, an unexpected and captivating left turn.
The emotional descent continues with The Last To Leave and Baby It’s Cruel. Sparse arrangements let Hattaway’s raw, vulnerable vocals take center stage, exposing themes of abandonment and romantic cruelty.
Only Love Remains offers a pause for breath. With simple acoustic strums and wholesome lyrics, Hattaway channels John Lennon, his retro falsetto soft and mellow. It is cinematic and timeless, easy to imagine against sweeping New Zealand landscapes.
Wild and Alone transports me straight back to Lyttleton’s Wunderbar when I lived away from home. Its hopeless guitar riffs evolve into a faster tempo, with quick-fire lyrical bursts injecting new energy before fading into a 90s ballad-style outro. It lingers, making you ponder about how miserable solitude can be, but also the opportunity that comes with it.
The playful Mustard Jumpsuit and Not My Scene nod to the band’s alternative side. Slow beats collide with rapid-fire lyrics, a classic Hattaway trick that keeps listeners on their toes.
Small Town is the album’s emotional high point. This is where Adam lets loose and goes all out. He sings with so much soul accompanied by a slow percussion rhythm and a rock guitar riff during his high notes. I first saw Adam at the Wine Cellar performing with his socks tip-toeing to the microphone and this is where I picture him when this song plays, intimate, unguarded, unforgettable.
Hot Variety feels like a culmination of the band’s past explorations: the indie noise of All Dat Love, the lo-fi country soul of Rooster, and the stripped-back balladry of High Horse. Here, contrast is the key: soft versus loud, fast versus slow, tender versus cruel. The analog recording gives the songs a warmth and immediacy that digital polish cannot touch.
Adam Hattaway remains one of Aotearoa’s most compelling songwriters. Hot Variety proves his best work comes not from overthinking, but from letting the music speak. Catch them live if you can. Streaming will not do this justice.
Azrie Azizi
Hot Variety is due out Friday, Sept. 5th.
ADAM HATTAWAY ONLINE
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