The Clarity of Kites

Their song was used in Greys Anatomy so it’s probably fitting Sam Bentley, the singer of Paper Kites, is interested in seeing the working Alimentary system at MONA. Although, Sam has only been to Tasmania several times for a mixture of band trips and family ones, band member Christina actually has many of her family in here.

I spoke to Sam about the release of Paper Kites new album ‘States’ and their upcoming national tour that includes Tasmania.

The Paper Kites chose their name because it wasn’t one that could be categorised neatly into any one genre, in fact to Sam their genre is whatever their latest release sounds the most like and Sam says ‘it is all just music’ and doesn’t need to be labelled.

In fact, categorising is especially difficult for a band that has created some amazing, arty, thought provoking, and quirky DVDs that always tell a story.

Listening to ‘Featherstone’ the song that was featured in a series finale of Grey’s Anatomy evokes images of ‘Where the wild things are’.

The latest single from their new album ‘States’ is called ‘St Clarity’ and is a piece of storytelling about French bubble artist Sylvain Letuvée. The songs message is ‘to see beauty in a way you haven’t seen it before’. In the video a humble bubble is manipulated into an amazing, albeit ephemeral creation.

Sam says the meaning behind the group’s songs is left to the viewer to discern and, like Morris Gleitzman, believes in the magic spaces where each listener brings their own story to explore the layers of levels to each song.

After this national tour The Paper Kites will be taking their album ‘States’ to the States!

But before this the paper kites perform in Tasmania at the Warratah Hotel on Friday 27th September.
Paula Xiberras