Beyoncé-approved: How Hiatus Kayote earned 15 years of A-list respect

They may not be a household name, but the artists Hiatus Kaiyote count as fans certainly are.

A vivid mix of futuristic soul, jazz, funk, R&B and hip-hop, the Melbourne/Naarm group's boundary-breaking music has been sampled by titans like Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Drake and Kendrick Lamar, and made admirers out of Pharrell Williams, SZA and the late, great Prince

They're also signed to Brainfeeder, the esteemed label of Flying Lotus, while Hottest 100 topper Doja Cat covered their track Red Room for BBC Live Lounge.

"She adds a vocal run that is really hard for me to un-hear," Hiatus Kaiyote frontwoman Nai Palm tells Double J's Tom Ravenscroft.

Hearing others interpret their music has filtered back its own inspiration, she explains.

"[Our song] The World It Softly Lulls — there's a vocal part we're doing live that's actually how the sample on the Beyoncé and Jay-Z track [2018's 713] was chopped up."

It's just one of the mind-blowing milestones amid an eclectic career that spans 15 years. This month, Hiatus Kaiyote are commemorating with a series of headline anniversary shows.

Nai is "not really a numbers kind of guy", but admits "it feels cool there's a ritual around a number like that".

"It feels like my entire life. How do we fit [four] albums into a two-hour show? That's been really fun," says Nai, who recently returned from Papua New Guinea, where she was a mentor for fellow artist Ngaiire's Musik Blok programme.

"So amazing! [But] coming back to Melbourne winter after that is pretty rude," she says with a laugh.

Having a good time

Finding inspiration in everything from the mating rituals of leopard slugs and Studio Ghibli filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki to interpolating French opera and classical music, Hiatus Kaiyote often pack more ideas into five minutes than most acts manage across an entire album.

That's to say nothing of their unique takes on Gorillaz, Jefferson Airplane, and Dolly Parton's Jolene (with Emma Donovan), and even reworking their material into smooth, easy-listening muzak to soundtrack a pop-up supermarket of album-inspired products.

For an envelope-pushing quartet always looking forward, how do they find looking back for anniversary shows?

"There's a lot of going back through our old material and seeing what we love and re-arranging it so that we love it again.

"I never want to not like what I do and just be going through the motions for the sake of it, you know?"

Tinkering and improvisation has been part of Hiatus Kaiyote's live experience "always and forever". Their growth as musicians and people means "you have more colours to paint with," says Nai. "And it's hard to strip it back.

"For example, a song like Nakamarra, you don't want to over-colour it because the beauty of it is its simplicity." While other studio versions allow more space to "flesh it out and get more creative".

"Some things need to be left alone. You're only as good as your Margarita."

There's also the added layer of each member having their own favourite cocktails, to follow the metaphor.

"It's literally the bane of my existence," Nai chuckles. "A huge ethos of the band is people will perform better and write better if they feel valued and if they feel like it's a true expression of what they like to do."

As the front person, Nai arguably has the edge when it comes to what audiences will respond to. But similarly appreciates "but will it be pleasurable for the people on stage?

"It's a delicate balancing act… Trying to give people what I think they want, but also, at the end of the day, just making sure that we're enjoying ourselves.

"First and foremost: If we're having a good time, it's going to translate."

The origin story

Nai was born Naomi Saalfield, taking up the moniker Nai Palm when she began fire dancing and gigging solo around Melbourne's hip inner-north.

After one Fitzroy gig, she was approached by bassist and bedroom producer Paul Bender (who also makes music as The Sweet Enoughs), who was blown away by her originality.

They soon linked up with self-taught drummer Perrin Moss and keys wizard Simon Mavin: roomies living in a large Northcote share house.

From their first rehearsal, the chemistry was instantaneous, and the band soon debuted at the burlesque-centric 8th Bohemian Masquerade Ball.

"Simon and Bender went to university and understand music theory really well," Nai explains.

"Me and Perrin learn more by ear and intuitive-based, so we all just had a really different understanding of the mathematics of music. That was kind of a good thing."

This push and pull between instinct and technical chops produces unique compositions, characterised by tricky time signatures and abrupt mood shifts. But also intoxicating grooves fronted by Nai's mercurial melodies, grounding their sometimes-intimidating complexity in compelling songcraft.

Or "multi-dimensional, polyrhythmic gangster shit", as the band described it for their 2011 debut album, Tawk Tomahawk, mostly recorded DIY in that Northcote share house and released independently via Bandcamp.

"The funny thing between the band is we all have a different understanding of where the one is," says Nai.

Translation: What constitutes the first beat on a song, such as By Fire, which has a shifting meter, alternating between three and four beats per bar.

"Our earlier records, there was even more of a separation. Now, I think everybody understands a bit more. So, there's less of: 'How?! How have you chosen to come in on that point?'"

It's the kind of geeky discourse that inspires online analyses and attracts music obsessives… like Salaam Rami.

Breaking out

A big-name American producer to everyone from Amy Winehouse and Nas to Alicia Keys, Rami inked Hiatus Kaiyote to his Flying Buddha label after hearing Tawk Tomahawk.

He then listed legendary A Tribe Called Quest MC/producer Q-Tip for a new version of their 2013 track Nakamarra. It made Hiatus Kaiyote the first Australian act to receive a Grammy nomination in an R&B category.

2015's sprawling Choose Your Weapon scored a second Grammy nod and their first ARIA Award nomination. But more importantly, a money-can't-buy respect, championed by more celebrity fans and community radio at home and abroad.

They dialled down the intensity without sacrificing the innovation for 2021's life-affirming Mood Valiant, composed while Nai received treatment for the illness that claimed her mother's life: breast cancer.

A painter and dance teacher, Nai's mother died when Nai was 11. She was orphaned two years later after her father died in a house fire.

She first learned guitar while living with her aunt in Mount Beauty but was also housed with a foster-care family who operated a wildlife sanctuary where Nai developed a deep attachment to nature and animals.

A scratch from an orphaned crow she rescued, raised and released to the wild also gifted Nai her first tattoo, at 19, tracing the scar running from her lip to chin. ("It challenges western beauty standards," she once noted.)

It's demonstrative of Nai's ability to alchemise trauma into triumphantly expressive, convention-defying art.

Hiatus Kaiyote also specialise in making bedfellows of the deeply philosophical and charmingly un-serious, exhibited by the ARIA-nominated Love Heart Cheat Code.

One of 2024's best albums, it presented the fearsomely skilled foursome at their most cheery and relaxed, with odes to kindred spirits (Make Friends) the band's own astrological birthday readings (Telescope), and internet sensation Longcat.

What's next?

The hardest part about stopping down to celebrate their back catalogue, Nai explains, is:

"We're constantly writing a lot. Like, a lot a lot."

The quartet have been making the most of their newly renovated studio.

"I used to track vocals in a cold shed. And now, there's lights that can be adjusted and heating!

"So, we've got the ball rolling on a lot of new material and now it's like, 'Go back and think about a song you wrote when you were 19.'

"It feels a bit divided but also a nice landmark punctuation to start another record. 'This is what we've done so far. What do we want to do now?'"

First things first, prepping for those 15th anniversary concerts.

"I've got to go fix my in-ear monitors because I'm a reckless ratbag on stage with my music equipment. But it's all for the show though, darling. It's for the vibes."

And if you can get onto Hiatus Kaiyote's one-of-a-kind wavelength, the vibes are indeed immaculate.

Hiatus Kaiyote celebrate their 15th anniversary with July shows in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne. They also play Darwin Festival on 23rd August and headline Dingo Festival in October.