Flashing Back to 2022 with Hiatus Kaiyote’s Paul Bender (8/17 at Franklin Music Hall)

The last time we saw Australian neo-soul outfit Hiatus Kaiyote in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection was June 29th of last year, when they played to a packed Franklin Music Hall the day after the release of their fourth, most recent, and best yet LP, Love Heart Cheat Code, an album whose universe was first conceived of as a supermarket operated by the band themselves, making and marketing its products, in addition to handling janitorial work, a commentary on the best and worst aspects of production and consumption in the modern age, which guitarist/vocalist Nai Palm has characterized as actually being the band’s most simplistic work to date.

“I’m a maximalist.  I complicate fucking everything…  But the more you go through things in life, you become more relaxed and uninhibited.  Sometimes you can still have depth and reach people and really stop dancing around the fact: What do you want to communicate to people?  And I feel like this album is a result of that clarity for us.  We didn’t need to spell out complexity if the song didn’t call for it.”

Earlier this week Hiatus Kaiyote kicked off their second North American tour behind Love Heart Cheat Code, which includes a return to Franklin Music Hall this Sunday, August 17th.  The dates so far have included half a dozen tracks from the album, in addition to highlights from the previous catalogue, with an equal number of songs from 2021’s Mood Valiant, which I discussed with Hiatus Kaiyote bassist Paul Bender during a 2022 chat.  Additionally, today marks the official release of The Smooth Sounds of Tres Leches, LHCC Mart Vol. 1, the debut LP from Hiatus Kaiyote side project Tres Leches, featuring Bender, Hiatus Kaiyote bandmate Simon Mavin, and touring member and longtime collaborator Alejandro “Silentjay” Abapo.  The album is a collection of re-workings of Hiatus Kaiyote favorites that the band recently told Clash came about while on the road.

“The vast majority of this record was made on the road while touring with HK, in green rooms or hotels, the three of us would borrow our front-of-house engineer’s travel speakers, open up someone’s laptop and have at it! Most of the sounds are plugins, but sometimes we would pull a sound from a Yamaha reface or the Korg Kronos, as well as our manager’s cheap nylon string guitar and Jay’s succulent soprano sax. For all the lovers out there, let tonight be the night you surrender yourself to Tres Leches.”

Get your tickets for Hiatus Kaiyote August 17th at Franklin Music Hall below, read my 2022 chat with Paul Bender about HK’s third album and solo debut, and check out Tres Leches’ re-working of Love Heart Cheat Code’s “Make Friends.”

*Get your tickets here.