Dreamy and brooding, The Year of the Kite is a new band from the U.K. that plays atmospheric pop. Featuring Doug Cresswell, Kate Day, Mohamed Sheikh, Matthew Walsh, Rachel Walsh and Matthew Wood, this sextet features crepuscular guitars and delicate vocal harmonies, embedded on top of chiming synths. What makes this dreampop band stand out is their somber use of clarinet, which provides a haunting backdrop. Practicing in a very cold, beautiful old church, they currently have three tracks available, and each has joined the playlist at STR including; “Beauty Gone,” “Distance,” and “Wild Blood, Wild Light.” This is one of Strawberry Tongue’s top bands from 2016.
Singer Matthew Walsh joined Lady Audio for an interview and discussed this song. This was Matthew’s comments about it:
The song essentially about someone struggling to keep their head above water literally and metaphorically dealing and with the difficulties it throws at them. There’s a confessional sort of element to it as well. As with all of our songs it has no particular background story to what it’s actually about. It’s just a mood or atmosphere we’re trying to create with the sounds and words and we’ll fit with that or would try to anyway.
If you want to learn more about Year of the Kite, visit their official website.