A shiny purple mural of Prince adorns the wall of the Sugar Club. Tonight’s performers, Australian four-piece Hiatus Kaiyote, continue the deceased star’s innovative legacy with their blend of jazz-fusion, neo-soul and funk. Lead singer, Nai Palm isn’t available to speak with us so that she’s able to preserve her voice for tonight’s show, the second of two sold-out nights at the Leeson Street venue. But keyboardist, Simon Mavin is on hand to have a chat before they take to the stage.

This is the third time Hiatus Kaiyote have headlined The Sugar Club. Ireland joins a prestigious line of admirers including Prince, Questlove and Erykah Badu. And it seems that the band have grown quite fond of us as well. “Man, we love it here. Dublin’s got a really awesome music scene. It seems like there are a lot of really good musicians here.” There are words of praise in particular for Plec Pick Feather, who has supported them twice. “Keep doing what you’re doing. You’re killing it. The set last night was so dope. She’s sounding really fresh. I’m sure we’ll get her to play with us again when we’re here next time.”

HK’s appeal should come as no surprise-the band are from Melbourne, a melting pot of nationalities and produce an accessible sound that nabs from various genres in equal measure while still remaining charmingly unique. This can be attributed to the eclectic backgrounds of HK themselves - Mavin himself studied jazz - as well as their incorporation of different cultural elements. “Cultures would mainly influence us rhythmically. We’ve got pretty vast influences from all over the world. We don’t tend to listen to any one particular style of music.”

This is perhaps most evident on Jekyll where, true to the labyrinthine nature of ‘Choose Your Weapon’, the song breaks into afrobeat halfway through. “With Jekyll, for that afrobeat break we actually brought in three percussionists to record that with us, guys that live in Melbourne but that are from different parts of South America.” And then, you’ve Be Fire which references the Navajo. "Be Fire was a completely different vibe. It was more of a synth-heavy song with influences from electronica.”

Assessing the music of today, it is apparent how synonymous in fact hip-hop has become with jazz, soul and funk. We quizzed Mavin about the hip-hop sensibilities they’ve adopted throughout their oeuvre. “The hip-hop roots in our music are pretty strong. That comes from Perrin. (HK’s drummer/percussionist) I think it’s increased now since when the band started because of Perrin’s massive influences from Dilla and Madlib and all those innovators. It’s definitely had a pretty big influence on us, that style of music.” Indeed HK’s schizophrenic yet mellifluous harmonies provide the perfect springboard for rappers to unfurl their rhymes-most recently, up and coming Californian rapper, Anderson .Paak featured on Taylor McFerrin’s (cousin of Bobby who is accredited by the band with bringing them wider international attention) remix of Laputa (available on their ‘Recalibrations Vol.1 EP, a collection of rarities and remixes from both their albums).

In their essay, 'The Immortal Soul: The Revival Of Soul Music And Its History In Hip-Hop Production', Stereogum commented that, “we’re starting to see the return of soul.” Mavin reckons that it evolved through time. “I think it all started with James Brown and you’d D’Angelo-aw man, hearing D’Angelo was amazing.”

In addition, Prince, Mavin tells us also had a profound effect on the band. “When he was fifteen, a label came to him and he was basically like, ‘I’m doing this myself'”. It’s this sense of DIY and self-belief that seems to have struck a chord with the foursome and is likely what appealed to them about Flying Buddha, their current record label. Mavin commented to the Irish Times recently, “…it was a really good fit... we have 100% creativity with our music.” Indeed it is this freedom of creative expression which seems to channel through their music that makes them so endearing. Bassist, Paul Bender describes second album, ‘Choose Your Weapon’ as a “massive, complex puzzle” He’s not wrong. We can only look forward to what puzzle Hiatus Kaiyote will take us to next.

https://open.spotify.com/track/12v5GBM74fB8WsHJPQRTIe