Hiatus Kaiyote

Hiatus Kaiyote is an Australian future-soul quartet formed in Melbourne in 2011, made up of Naomi «Nai Palm» Saalfield on vocals and guitar, Paul Bender on bass, Simon Mavin on keyboards and Perrin Moss on drums and percussion. The band coined the term future soul to describe their sound, which fuses neo-soul, jazz harmony, funk, hip-hop and psychedelic textures into arrangements that resist easy genre classification.

Their music is marked by intricate, jazz-informed chord progressions, shifting time signatures, Nai Palm's distinctive, elastic vocal phrasing, and a warm, organic production aesthetic that still feels forward-looking. Tracks such as «Nakamarra», «Molasses» and «Breathing Underwater» showcase this blend of technical sophistication and emotional immediacy, earning the group a devoted following among musicians and soul/jazz enthusiasts alike.

Hiatus Kaiyote gained international attention after Questlove championed their early work, and their songs have been sampled and covered by major hip-hop and R&B artists, including a notable Q-Tip remix of «Nakamarra» and use of their material by artists like Kendrick Lamar and Drake. Their releases have earned Grammy nominations, cementing the band's reputation as one of the most inventive acts to emerge from Australia's contemporary soul and jazz scene.