The Paper Kites @
El Rey Theatre
The Paper Kites gathers lovers and friends for a night of ethereal music
The Paper Kites, a band from Melbourne, Australia, makes their stop in Los Angeles, California at the El Rey Theatre to put on a show for the lovers and friends who have gathered together to see them perform. A band consisting of five talented people—Sam Bentley, Josh Bentley, Sam Rasmussen, Christina Lacy, and Dave Powys—have been together since 2010 and have released their two new albums in 2018 (5 months apart!).
Fans really deserve those two consecutive albums since it had been three years since the release of their last album. Despite their break, their style of music has not changed. Each melody and sound crafted beautifully together with their voices and instruments, the Paper Kites continues to produce music that makes us want to fall in love. In fact, the lead singer Sam Bentley commented on how you would see two types of people at a typical Paper Kites show—those who came as couples who are vertically spooning each other and those who are single who have one tear rolling down his eye while watching the show. Indeed, Sam was correct as you saw majority of the room filled with lovers. In relationship or single, fans were ready to watch this Australian band perform.
Lights came through the blinds decorated on stage as the band started the show with “Flashes”. The set of the night included tracks from different albums such as “Tin Lover”, “Electric Indigo”, “On the Train Ride Home”, and “Deep Burn Blue”.
Before playing the song “Between the Houses,” Sam shared that he wrote this song for his sister-in-law and told a story about shoe shining referenced in the lyrics. By sharing this, the audience felt a little closer to them as they now understood the backstory behind this song. It is always so nice to see artists interacting with their audience and create an intimacy that can only be created at a live show. Another perk of seeing artists live is that they sometimes perform unreleased music. Paper Kites gave Los Angeles a first listen to their newest song “Straight to You” which we hope to be released very soon.
The Paper Kites had prepared a variety of ways to perform their songs. Sam performed a piano solo for “It’s Not Like You” and in another song, they had Sam up in the front with his guitar while four other band members stood around one microphone right behind him. Before performing their last song “Give Me Your Fire, Give Me Your Rain,” the band talked about how they usually don’t do encores unless the crowd really wants them to, but realized that ironically, in saying so, they have set themselves up for an encore. Surely enough, when they left the stage, audience cheered loudly for them to come back. As they came out again, they sarcastically mentioned that “it was so unexpected.” The Paper Kites covered Chris Isaac’s “Wicked Game” and ended the night with “On the Train Ride Home” leaving the audience in awe of their performance.
Though the band released two albums last year, we can expect new music from them again seeing that they performed an unreleased song that night. What they create is truly an art that can only be created by truly artistic musicians. The only thing that the fans ask of them is to not keep them away from their amazing music for three whole years. We cannot wait for them to return to LA!
(5 / 5)
Review and photos by Shion Uza
