LIVE REVIEW: trials ‘what’s the colour of love’ Album Launch

06/09/2026

Multi-award-winning songwriter, producer and performer trials (Daniel Hendle Rankine) launched his autobiographical debut solo album ‘hendle’ at City Recital Hall’s intimate Ground Floor Bar performance space as part of the Great Southern Nights lineup on May 13 2026, along with ‘what’s the colour of love’ – an exhibition inspired by the album.

: Photo by Thom Crawford @thomcrawford

In the late 1990s- early 2000s, hip hop in South Australia was having a good time. In the Adelaide hills we were on it, rhyming in the school yard and at parties (the boys mainly), baggy pants and hoodies, thrilled if someone’s older brother knew someone who knew someone who was in that crew, and fuelled by the mystery and magic that we were from the same school and very same hilltop as them…

Finally getting into the rowdy hip hop shows we’d heard so much about was unforgettable. Well, I don’t remember where, when, who exactly, and there have been so many since, but the joyful overwhelm on my young brain is etched in my memory.

But a lot of time has passed. My knees certainly reminded me of that after the recent Hilltop Hoods show (What is your secret, guys? Please.)

And time is something that trials has taken plenty of as he’s developed his first solo release ‘hendle’.

Originally part of the Adelaide hip hop group Funkoars who formed in 1999, and currently one-half of A.B. Original, trials has hit the rewind button on his life to reflect on, understand, and face his life before hip hop.

Through sound, story and visual art, this is trials’ origin story that he says is “unashamedly me…in all its fractured pieces”. It’s a life laid out bare exposing pain, loss, racism, domestic violence, mental health, and a boy becoming a man.

: Photo by Thom Crawford @thomcrawford

‘what’s the colour of love’

Female strength and power are central to trials’ work in the exhibition ‘what’s the colour of love’ – a collection of faces painted from faded memory, with eyes, through pain, steeliness, and distance, that tell stories we’re not privy to. The eyes are focused on in a series of single works in vibrant hues.

trials is a Ngarrindjeri man with deep connections to Raukkan, South Australia, which sits on Lake Alexandria, an important area for pelicans and other birdlife. Culture, survival and hope shine through the bold brushstrokes of a pelican in ochre, pink and grey.

Based on the album, the audio memoir accompaniment was never going to be an easy listen. trials has dug deep and unburied his deepest wounds and scars. The dim red lighting and dark corners between the two exhibition spaces provided shadowed solitude for those seeking quiet reflection amongst the pre-show catchups and background beats.

Recorded on Ngarrindjeri Country in May 2024, it has trials reading excerpts on his trials up to age sixteen, dealing with racism, violence, and growing up in Wales raised by his mum and grandmother.

He shares, “The racism that I encountered growing up here and abroad is a part of who I am in broad strokes. The displacement, domestic and other violence I encountered is another. Each one is another layer to the picture I’m painting of a life built on adversity but also standing on strength.”

: Photo by Thom Crawford @thomcrawford

‘hendle’

Entirely produced, written, performed, recorded and mixed by trials, ‘hendle’ is his first solo record. “It’s something I’ve always needed to do” he reflects, “…these topics speak to so many people, but it was important that I told my story my way alone…Our lives are often defined by one thing when it’s a whole palette of events that make up the picture”.

The City Recital Hall launch was trials’ first headline show performing ‘hendle’ in solo mode. Funkoars and hip hop fans in hoodies and caps, and a mixed bunch made a mellow and loving crowd who bobbed rather than bounced to the beats. trials is a great MC and the warmth and beauty of his voice shone in this pared back setting.

For songs so deeply personal there were moments of collective empathy, and some that were collectively understood… nods of quiet agreement from those who know the achievement it is to say “…and then I got dressed”, and the sideway smiles suggesting if we haven’t maybe we should… “be an adult (have a breakdown).”

We didn’t jump around like the old days, but there was comfort in knowing we haven’t fully grown out of baggy pants and hoodies. And along with trials we’ve probably all weathered some storms and done a lot of growing up.