The Kite String Tangle

Danny Harley, better known as The Kite String Tangle (TKST), has been touring his latest production around Australia in the month of October. When I say production, I’m not putting it lightly. Playing this, doing that. In a good way, Harley was all over the joint. The man has synths, he has drums, keys, vocalists and even live horns. Nobody missed a beat, especially not Harley.

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Suspenseful drumming came right on time. The audience were like moths to a flame, shuffling up closer together towards the stage. Tropical synths, followed by Harley’s smooth vocals, eventually joined the drums to create a house feel and slowly transition into Waiting, the first track on TKST’s self-titled album.

Beneath The Canopy continued the vibe created before it, only to be broken up by one of his oldest tracks, Stone Cold. I thought it may have been too early to launch into something so well-known, but people went wild over it none-the-less. A red-headed, female vocalist accompanied Harley on this track in place of Tiana Khasi. It ended with a very jazzy twist when compared to the recording, alluding to a tone that would be dominant throughout the second half of the performance.

Urges by Lastlings (The Kite String Tangle Remix) followed and in my humble opinion, was far better than the original. The vocals come alive when they are sped up and added to a constant drumbeat. This track was a nice spin on things and was perfectly placed within the set.

Another fan favourite, Given The Chance, came next and fans closely followed along with the lyrics. Again, this could have been left for later, but all the jazziness was about to set off. I assume this to be the reason for its early placement.

This Thing We Got was the cue for two horn players to join the stage, and the performance really came along in the chorus of this track. Soulful sounds (of what one could assume only to be the voice of an African American woman) lightened the room. As part of the visual show, rainbows quite literally poured out from behind the performers with each horn solo.

Tracks The Devil You Know and Know By Now followed. The latter was described to be,

“really special to me, about someone really special to me.” – Danny Harley. 

And did the girls swoon? They did. The crowd albeit was a little bit more serious and older than that of your typical electronic gig.

Wanderlust, with its clicky beat and nostalgic aura, reminded me of a song from the 90’s that I can’t remember learning but definitely know. It, of course, was released in 2017, but props to him for achieving that feeling within at least me.

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Danny Harley // The Kite String Tangle

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The performance elevated to new heights with Selfish, one part of the two tracks which were pre-released and awaited the remainder of the new album. It made fans excited for what was to come both then and now.

What did come next was The Prize, another brassy number. The female vocalist and horn players were back for this one, while the keyboard player had yet to disappear. He was very cool, calm and collected in the entirety of the performance.

Fickle Gods saw Harley really engaging with the audience for the first time. Until now he had been preoccupied with the various happenings mentioned earlier. He took the mic in hand and even did a few tricks with the chord. Moving to the front of the stage, he really immersed himself in lyrics like,

“I’m a bigger man than he is.”

The crew was effortless on their return for a double encore. Celebrate by Fatboy Slim was performed, a perfect addition to the set; it slotted right into that groove of the night.

The Kite String Tangle then thanked the “real day ones” that was the crowd before him — and mentioned how the show sold out “real fuckin’ quick”. Arcadia, the track that blasted off his career, closed the show and had each person in the room yelling the words.

TKST has evolved as an artist enormously and well perfected his sound. He has created a production which is like nothing else I’ve seen and has both breadth and depth. With a little bit of fine-tuning, the performing side of things will, too, be impossible to fault.

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AMNplify – BD