The Paper Kites

“It’s like cool, cool water running down my back.” Yeah, it’s a Jayhawks lyric, but it is a great description of the luscious, liquid effect of The Paper Kites as instruments and harmonies wash over your ears. Songs magically, flawlessly composed, arranged and performed begging the question, “why have I not been listening to The Paper Kites, like, forever?” Earworms? We got your earworms. Each melody is so familiar and welcome.

Formed by a group of Melbourne friends in 2009, The Paper Kites have released five albums and four EPs. The lineup is a fairly standard five-piece including guitars, keys, bass and drums. Think, perhaps, Iron & Wine fronting City and Colour (but, with more keys and female vocals). Specific genre is nearly meaningless given the ground they cover. Rock? Pop? Folk? Sure, all of it. 2021’s Roses, an album of collaborations (with Ainslie Wills, Lucy Rose and Aoife O’Donovan, among others), mines soft ’80s electropop, delicate acoustic folk and contemporary, rootsy pop in a series of delightful confections. The songs veer from quiet and personal to epic and dramatic. It’s the kind of music that fits perfectly on, say, a tarp…in a field…with a welcome breeze on a warm summer day.