“It’s pretty awesome to be able to tour to all these different places around the world and [people there] check out other music in the scenes that we’re involved with, because they like what we do. A friend of ours who’s a producer – MFP – he came over from Japan because he loved our music and assumed there’d be a dope music scene here. He actually moved here to experience that, which is pretty cool.”
What’s distinguishing the present situation from previous instances of international intrigue is, thanks to the Internet’s takeover of the music industry, it’s now possible to discover stacks more Aussie music than just the acts with overseas record deals.
“[In the past] there’s been a lot of successful Australian musicians that have broken through to the other side,” says Palm. “Like the Bee Gees and Kylie Minogue and AC/DC. I feel like that recognition has already been happening, but I think people are more aware that it’s specifically Australian now, because of the Internet and because people are finding it in their own way, instead of just having it marketed to them.”
An interesting consequence of the contemporary hunger for Australian music is that a growing numbers of local artists are getting significant recognition overseas, prior to making a serious impact at home. The likes of Courtney Barnett and Jagwar Ma received mountains of hype in the US and UK before Australian listeners really latched on.
“My manager’s been releasing this Wondercore Island Mixtape, which is all local acts like Remi and Laneous and the Family Yah,” says Palm. “It kind of gives people a direct link to check out the scene. Just recently I was in Warsaw, and there were massive Sex On Toast fans. It was so funny.
“The amazing thing about the Internet and social networking is that all the information is there and, if you catch people’s ears, they tend to do some digging.”
Hiatus Kaiyote’s recent ascent is a prime example of social media’s attention-steering capacity. However, rather than reaping the benefits of a viral spamming campaign, Hiatus Kaiyote’s overseas fortunes were greatly boosted by Twitter endorsements from the likes of Questlove and Prince.
In both instances, the praise was directed towards Nakamarra – the lead single from Hiatus Kaiyote’s debut LP, Tawk Tomahawk. The album came out locally in mid-2012 and the four-piece have just finished working on a follow up.
“It’s coming together and I’m so excited about it,” says Nai. “We’ve just come back from a tour, which gave us a fresh perspective and we’ve been working on the final mixes.
“I went to Miami to track vocals at Salaam Remi’s house, who’s the head label [Flying Buddha Records]. He’s a musician first and foremost, so there’s no real solid deadlines. He just wants us to be happy with it. So we’ve been taking our sweet arse time and getting it really intricate and I’m really proud of it.”
Considering the unprecedented impact made by Tawk Tomahawk, contemplating where to go next could be intimidating for the band. However, it’s not only impossible to guarantee the rapt public response will be repeated, but attempting to do so is likely to hamper the adventurous spirit that made Tawk Tomahawk stand out in the first place.
“We don’t have to tailor to a demographic,” says Palm. “We’ve already been accepted for how we naturally are. It’s actually really inspiring and motivating to just keep bringing it.
“All the artists that I love, the reason that I love them is because their music is timeless. The reason it’s timeless is because they’re sincere in their art. I’ve always been a little bit left-of-centre creatively and I guess we would be that way regardless.”
On top of their convention defying persuasion, since recording Tawk Tomahawk Hiatus Kaiyote have grown into a far stronger collaborative unit.
“With Tawk Tomahawk we’d only been together as a band for six months or a year,” Palm explains. “We were still working it out – I’d never been in a band before. Whereas now, we have a couple of international tours under our belts, our playing is really cemented, so it gives us more of an opportunity to go deeper with it.
“Tawk was such a rookie record, and it’s cool,” she adds. “To have the response that Tawk Tomahawk had when we were still just working it out, it gives you faith that now that we’re really bringing it you have the ears already there.”
Even though her fiercely independent attitude is unwavering, Palm admits there were a few unnerving moments during the recording process.
“The scariest part was knowing that Stevie Wonder and Prince and all these people would hear it. I was definitely hyper aware of that when tracking vocals. Like, ‘Is this good enough for my idols to hear?’ ”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
