Mayfair Kytes – Easy On The Ears

By Dan Hutton on May 20, 2016 in People

If there’s one thing going for Melbourne folk/art-pop four-piece Mayfair Kytes, it’s that they’re extremely easy on the ears.

Having recently released their debut album, Animus – a dense mosaic of flourishing strings, jangly guitars, tape-driven beats, synthscapes and samples – Mayfair Kytes are now hitting the road and will take to the stage at The Vanguard in Newtown on April 28.

We threw a few questions at Mayfair Kytes’ frontman Matt Kelly during the month…

If we had to describe our sound in one sentence… we’d call it hyper-folk art-pop.

My first memory of music is… listening to a good friend of my parents, who was also called Matthew. He was this amazing illustrator and he would always draw me these cool little pictures, and he also carried a guitar. I remember him playing it and I was totally entranced. I wanted to do the same from that point onwards.

Growing up my parents listened to… different artists. My Dad listened to Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Zappa – all the greats of his day. Mum was into Elton John, Dire Straits, Whitney Houston, the Jackson 5…and always a lot of stand up comedy records.

My dream gig… would be to play a series of theatre shows with a gigantic orchestra. It will happen one day.

If you come to see us play, you can expect… ambient guitars, inter-weaving vocal hooks and big harmonies, slick bass grooves, big dynamics, and strange arrangements. The set moves through a series of genres so it’s kind of hard to coin.

There was one time when we were starting out… that we thought we could afford to do every show with a string quartet. That didn’t last very long.

If I could have chosen one song to have written it would have to be… ‘Let’s Stay Together’ by Al Green. It is pretty much chordal, lyrical and melodic perfection.

Our favourite song to perform would have to be… ‘Flashlight’. It is a song that takes you on a journey through many different styles and there is some really satisfying tension and release going on there.

The best thing about the local music scene is… the level of talent going on within it. Seriously some of the best bands I know.

One person I’d still really like to record with is… Nigel Godrich, if I could. If it’s collaborations you’re talking, Bjork would be high on that list.

Our biggest fan has got be… my mother. She is always the first to sing praise.

We’ll know we have made it when… Austin’s head comes out as a Pez dispenser. Until then we shall soldier on.

To find out more about Mayfair Kites, please visit… www.facebook.com/mayfairkytes or www.mayfairkytes.bandcamp.com.