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Australian indie-folk legends The Paper Kites have made their return with their new single, Without Your Love. The track sees the five-piece collaborate with Aussie legend, and one half of brother/sister duo Angus & Julia Stone, the one and only Julia Stone.
The conversational duet continues the bands particular brand of thoughtful and evocative songwriting, paired with beautiful harmonies that stir up emotions upon listening. The song is the latest taste of the bands upcoming fifth record Roses, due out next year. With almost one billion streams worldwide, it’s clear why The Paper Kites have built such a following on Without Your Love.
Speaking of collaborating with Stone, frontman Sam Bentley shared: "I grew up listening to Julia's music and some of her work was really pivotal in turning me down the road I went - so to approach her and have her love that song and want to sing on it was an amazing full circle moment - she's such an important figure of the folk revival in Australia and I don't think we would be a band without them leading the way. It was a real honour to work with her."
Co-produced by Bentley and Tom Iansek (#1 Dads, Big Scary), Roses is an album of duets, with each track seeing the band collaborate with a different artist. Sitting at 10 songs, the body of work is “A collection of songs we had written and wanted to record with these artists.” Bentley explains. The band are joined by by artists from all corners of the world, including Stone, Lucy Rose, Nadia Reid, Maro, Aoife O’Donovan, Rosie Carney, Ainslie Wills, Amanda Bergman, Lydia Cole and Gena Rose Bruce.
Bentley adds: “I had written these songs and had always wanted to do an album like this, but I remember almost scrapping the whole project because it felt too hard. It was about finding the right voices for the songs - artists that couldn’t just sing but had something deep and moving in the way they sang - and that’s not every singer - it’s rare”
Since bursting onto the scene in 2011, The Paper Kites have built up a devoted Audience and toured the world over. With four records under their belt, the band are gearing up for the release of Roses, which if it’s singles are any indication, will keep that at the highest calibre of Australian indie-folk acts.
Without Your Love is out now! Listen to the song below.