By Deb Kloeden, Adelaide correspondent in Melbourne
Venue: The Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne. 24th June 2016–The Paper Kites Midnight Tour
Melbourne’s indie/folk/ band, The Paper Kites, are currently touring Australia on their ‘Midnight’ tour promoting their latest album ‘Twelvefour’.
After forming in 2010, they released their debut single ‘Bloom’. ‘Woodlands’, their first EP, was released in 2011. By 2013, they released their first full-length album, ‘States’, which they promoted by touring North America. Since then, they have worked with Seattle-based producer, Phil Ek of Fleet Foxes and Manchester Orchestra fame. In 2015, he collaborated with them on a concept album ‘Twelvefour’, which was composed solely between the hours of midnight – 4am.
The Paper Kites have just released a new video clip, ‘Renegade’, which completes their ‘midnight’ video trilogy of late-night stories. Director, Dan Huiting and his team use a real, local skate crew as the cast for this video. The other 2 videos in the set are ‘Electric Indigo’ and ‘Revelator Eyes’. Each of the videos use different characters and are set in different towns, but are shot and recorded between the same ‘midnight’ hours.
Sam Bentley describes the Midnight National Australian Tour by saying, “We perform the music and behind us are a group of apartment windows. Through the windows, a series of stories play out in the lives of different people…we provide the soundtrack to a single night, the audience watching through the dim lit windows and seeing these stories progress, eventually fading to darkness.”
This describes the concert perfectly. The musicians were dimly lit throughout the whole performance, highlighting the visuals in the background windows, making you concentrate on the early morning stories being played out in each window. The left hand window seemed to concentrate on private conversations up against the window. In the second window, we viewers could see a painting on an easel. At times, various people seemed to discuss the painting, or work on it. People from room one moved into this room, like moving between rooms in a house. The third window showed people exercising, doing yoga etc, while the last window I dubbed the ‘intimate room’. The final scene from this window gave us a peek at a couple finally exiting off to bed, culminating the progression of time from midnight to 4am.
While these scenes were playing in the background, The Paper Kites played songs from all their albums. They started with two stripped-back, acoustic numbers. As the concert progressed, the band married beautiful harmonic vocals with some stunning guitar work.
The mixed age audience was very appreciative and obviously knew the band’s music well. After a generous performance, they returned with a real crowd-pleaser ‘Bloom’, (their first single) as their encore. This song blends acoustic guitar work with raw harmonies and whistling, demonstrating the true musical talents of the band.
The Paper Kites will be taking their ‘Midnight’ Tour on to Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, before heading back to North America and Canada in July.
TOUR DATES:
MEMBERS:
David Powys (guitar/banjo),
Sam Rasmussen (bass/synth),
Josh Bentley (drums)
Sam Bentley (guitar/vocals)
Christina Lacy (keys/guitar/vocals)
LISTEN TO TWELVEFOUR
PHOTO GALLERY
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From Darkroom to Lightroom in 4 decades.
Deb is aPhotographer, Music Lover, Ex teacher, and traveller.
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