The Paper Kites

Given the reception to States, it seemed imperative that its follow-up arrive in timely fashion. However, The Paper Kites were never a quick-fix, pop-oriented act, and they were more concerned with delivering a new record of exceeding quality. That album is on its way at last, based around a fascinating concept by frontman Sam Bentley. Its title, Twelvefour, relates to the theory that there’s a creative peak between midnight and four in the morning – which is precisely when the entire record was written.

“There was like 30 songs we ended up with, all as a result of that experiment,” Bentley says. “I wrote for two or three months. I got a little unwell in the middle, I think because of messing with your body clock, so I did it in two batches. It was pretty interesting – wouldn’t do it again, but it was cool.”

Even people who aren’t engaged in artistic pursuits have probably witnessed their creative capacity expand in the wee hours. During that time of night, things come out of your mouth or cross your mind that are surprisingly imaginative. Adhering to a strict songwriting regimen was a new experience for Bentley.

“I’ve always generally written at night, but the last record I was just held up at a friend’s property writing there,” he says. “There wasn’t any, ‘This is the time that I’m writing within.’ But having heard about that idea, [it] really interested me. It was just an experiment to see whether there’s any truth in it. Some of the stuff that came out was pretty unexpected, and often you would forget what you’d done the night before and then listen back to it and be like, ‘That sounds great,’ or ‘That sounds really unusual.’”

In line with its predecessor, Twelvefour is rooted in the folk rock singer-songwriter tradition, with the chief focus being Bentley’s melodies and emotive storytelling. However, the record is a more exploratory release, harnessing a broader textural palette and giving a slight nod to ’80s pop music. Still, a lot of the weirder tracks Bentley came up with didn’t actually make it to the final product.

“I think the band felt like we shouldn’t be heading in that direction necessarily,” he says. “Each song was so different from the last one, so if anything, that did answer the question that you do get some pretty weird things coming out [at that time]. Some of them were great and some of them I really liked but couldn’t get them across the line with the guys.

“You have your own ideas as a writer, but you’ve also got to get four other people on board with that. There were things in there that the guys felt wouldn’t work for us and I thought they would, but ultimately it’s all in the best interest of making the best record we can, and we’re really proud of what we’ve done.”

Joined by keyboardist/backing vocalist Christina Lacy, drummer Josh Bentley, guitarist Dave Powys and bass player Sam Rasmussen, Sam Bentley has been leading The Paper Kites since 2010. During that time, the band’s loyal followers have also developed a strong attachment to the music. The frontman was attentive to this fact when working on Twelvefour.

“It always does come back to the five core members and what we believe is the best direction, but also you need to have respect for the people that like your music, because they’re the ones you’re releasing it to. You do have to take into consideration, ‘Is it going to be too big of a jump, or are we losing anything that people loved about us in the first place?’ You need to understand that the people that listen to your music have created their own idea of what your band is just as much as you have yourself.

“But at the same time, you have to push forward as a writer and you have to challenge yourself. That’s really what I was trying to do – put myself in a bit of an uncomfortable position. So I set aside any expectations. I tried to draw from every corner of my own influences, as I felt like I needed to. By the end of it, there was this drastic unevenness between the songs, but each one was authentic and true to what it wanted to be.

“Fortunately, we have the sort of fans that tend to go along with what we end up putting out,” Bentley adds. “They’re music lovers. I don’t think we’re a trending kind of band. I don’t know if we consciously follow anything. You just need to stay clear of all that stuff. People respond to authenticity and to genuineness when it comes to songwriting. If you’re injecting real emotion and real feeling into your songs, and there’s depth in there, people can see that.”

As with The Paper Kites’ previous releases, the lyrics on Twelvefour don’t convey an image of emotional contentedness and feel-good recreation. Rather, the album explores the whims of romance and the ever-looming clash of individual feelings and perceptions. While Bentley has a penchant for writing lyrics of this nature, it’s also true that people are generally more melancholy in the early hours of the morning. Either way, Bentley’s working hours led him into some rather vulnerable territory.

“There’s always that point where you think, ‘Am I revealing too much here?’ But that’s your job as a songwriter – you are the spokesman on behalf of all sorts of situations people have gone through. It’s just working out how to say that in a way someone hasn’t said it before. I think I kept them pretty true to how I was feeling. The late-night mood does bring out feelings of old love and new love and things like that.

“I’m not a super political person – I find it hard to draw on anything else other than the things that I’ve been through. So I didn’t really sugar-coat them – I said it how it was. I’m very particular about my lyrics, and when people ask me what my songs are about, people have always told me, ‘Your songs are actually quite sad.’ Lyrically, they’re all pretty sad. I’ve always thought of this album as an open letter – it’s a confession and an apology and it’s endearing. It’s sort of mending. You can look back on it and go, ‘I’ve got all this out and now it feels mended.’”