What does it sound like when the lavender blooms? What if the wind blows from a different direction? If you shake off the rain? If you follow “When The Lavender Blooms”, “Change Of The Wind” and “Shake Off The Rain”, three of the Paper Kites’ new songs, then: like a lazy Sunday afternoon in Laurel Canyon.
The guitars pluck away acoustically on IF YOU GO THERE, I HOPE YOU FIND IT, the seventh album by the band from Melbourne, and the rhythm doesn’t come from the hip, maybe there’s an organ dawdling in the background, but the voices rise to harmonious songs that take off and rise into the air and only land again in the late sixties.
This patina pop from Australia hasn’t really evolved since their first hit “Bloom” in 2010, but is a popular guest on the soundtracks of series like “Grey’s Anatomy”, and is probably played whenever the protagonist hugs the protagonist after a long night in the emergency room. The song that goes with it is called “Strongly In Your Arms” and has as much soft focus as the TV sequence you can imagine, but that’s the great thing, because who wants to be irritated, confused or unsettled when they can be hugged?
This review appears in Musikexpress 2/2026.