

Palm explained that working on a solo album gave her greater flexibility to work on her guitar sounds and the challenge of releasing a more raw and personal record. She also worked with Australian indigenous performer Jason Guwanbal Gurruwiwi on the album. The album features only stripped-down vocals and guitars, and includes original tracks as well as covers of songs by David Bowie, Tamia, and Jimi Hendrix. In 2017, Palm released her debut solo album Needle Paw, which was possibly named after a desert flower. The album reached high in the Australian charts and was nominated for a Grammy Award in the United States. The second Haitus Kaiyote album, Choose Your Weapon, was released in May 2015. In 2012 the band opened for Taylor McFerrin in Melbourne McFerrin later featured Nai Palm on his track "The Antidote." The band released its debut album Tawk Tomahawk independently in April 2012. The following year they formed the band Hiatus Kaiyote with drummer Perrin Moss and keyboardist Simon Mavin. After one gig in 2010 she was approached by bassist Paul Bender, who had seen her performance and suggested a collaboration. In Melbourne, Palm began a career as a solo singer/guitarist.
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She started using "Nai Palm" as a professional name while working as a fire performer. When Saalfield was 15 years old, she moved back to Melbourne and was homeless for a time. Her aunt had an acoustic guitar, and Nai learned to harmonize with it. She also lived for a time with a family who ran a wildlife sanctuary for native animals where she developed a love and attachment to the natural world. Saalfield was orphaned at age 13 when her father died in a house fire.Īfter Saalfield's mother died, she went through the foster care system, and went to live with her aunt in Mount Beauty. When Saalfield was 11 years old her mother died of breast cancer. Later, her brother introduced her to classic rock staples Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. Saalfield was first introduced to music by her mother, playing piano and listening to soul, flamenco, and Northwest African music. She and her five siblings were raised by their single mother, a choreographer and painter. Sign up for the 10 to Hear newsletter here.Nai Palm was born Naomi Grace Saalfield on in Melbourne, Australia. (Pitchfork earns a commission from purchases made through affiliate links on our site.)Ĭatch up every Saturday with 10 of our best-reviewed albums of the week. On their best album yet, Hiatus Kaiyote shine by building an architecture around these emotions, coming alive when they allow themselves to be more than just a great band. But even when she pares down her lyrics to simple paeans of love, lust, and devotion, her voice animates the words with pathos and meaning. Nai Palm is an endearingly stoney lyricist, and, sure enough, she starts off “Chivalry Is Not Dead” with an erotic verse that sounds like it was inspired by a blazed viewing of a nature documentary: “If I were a leopard slug,” she sings, “I would reach out with the blue rose of ours, wrapping myself around you.” Digging more deeply into these feelings-not to mention the genderfucked reproductive practices they imply-could be a worthy next step. The precision and intensity of the music veers toward dubstep, with a grinding half-time lurch punctuated by Moss’ massive kick drum.įor all the dynamism of their music, Hiatus Kaiyote have only a couple of lyrical moods: sultry or ecstatic. In several winning moments, they introduce string arrangements from Brazilian composer Arthur Verocai, bringing a regal spirit to lead single “Get Sun” and the piano ballad “Stone or Lavender.” On the riotous, mid-album highlight “All the Words We Don’t Say,” Hiatus Kaiyote are in their bag. It is the most vibrant they’ve ever sounded on record. This is the first Hiatus Kaiyote album that doesn’t sound like merely a recorded live set you can hear them using the studio to expand their vision of what the band can be.

In the hookier moments, Hiatus Kaiyote sound like songwriters and performers in equal measure, living up to their self-appointed genre of “future soul”: husky, cyberpunk R&B, with Nai Palm’s molten voice at its core. Bassist Paul Bender and drummer Perrin Moss are characteristically locked in, guiding us through kaleidoscopic sounds.

On “Chivalry Is Not Dead,” keyboardist Simon Mavin juggles synths that creak and yawn. But the band soon ventures into new territory. The fundamentals of their sound-like the twinkling Rhodes electric piano that shows up in the brief and tender “Sip Into Something Soft”-are still present. No longer content with merely capturing the sound of four wildly talented musicians in a room together, they transform into something more expansive and psychedelic. On Mood Valiant, Hiatus Kaiyote creeps closer to a unity of virtuosity and feeling.
