The death of Prince does not just resonate with those who were brought up on that unparalleled 80s oeuvre, but also to younger generations, who were not alive to him in that decade when almost everything he touched turned to gold. Prince was also very good at nurturing new talent and keeping an ear out for what was happening beyond his Paisley Park compound. 

He had previously and publicly bigged up Hiatus Kaiyote's 'Breathing Underwater' track, via twitter and singer Nai Palm brought that little nugget to the attention of tonight's crowd, a cross-section of the beautiful people of Brighton dressed up to party along with this uplifting beacon of future-soul and all that innate positivity that expression and musical genre implies.

They've barely been going five years and, with just two albums under their belt, this Australian band have a sense of purpose and a musical maturity that you can only marvel at. This maturity extends to them avoiding indulgence at all costs. Yes, they are all very fine players, both technically and via 'feel', and once in a while they get their flair on, but rarely do they venture down that muso road, where all too often flashiness and virtuoso exhibitionism is a poor substitute for everything else music should have; namely melody, song-craft, dynamics, and imagination.

What we get tonight via the core of guitar, bass, drums, keys and voice (plus three backing singers for most of the set) is a band totally at ease with their abilities, as individuals, but, more importantly, working as band as they weave their way through a set consisting mostly of songs from their last album, complimented by a few from both their début album and new songs which are currently unreleased. From 'Shaolin Motherfunk' (which the majority of the crowd seem to know the words to) to the gentle soulful funk of 'Nakamarra', to the aforementioned, and startling complex 'Breathing Underwater' (which Nai Palm says onstage is inspired by both David Attenborough and Stevie Wonder) and the glitchy funk of 'Swamp Thing', to the dreamy psychedelic soul of 'Fingerprints' and the less-is-more neo-soul of 'Borderline With My Atoms', Haitus Kaiyote are slick without losing their essential warmth and earthiness. 

Although hampered by the venue's sound, which was a little too dense and bottom-heavy to fully unravel the intricacies and nuances of some of their music, this band reveal themselves to be both a throwback to Stevie Wonder and the British soul-funk movement of the late 80s/early 90s, and a progressive future-soul proposition that marks their music as ultimately timeless.

Jeff Hemmings

Website: hiatuskaiyote.com
Twitter: twitter.com/hiatuskaiyote
Facebook: facebook.com/hiatuskaiyote