It’s been a few years since the Kites have sailed at all.
Mario took a break, on his own terms. Eventually, he began composing again… discarding & restarting, until this distance itself became the heart of his new material. A spectrum of circumstances—positive and negative, harmonious and dissonant—lead to Motivated / Unmotivated, the first ever Kites Sail High full-length release. As its title suggests, the album is a very personal statement about the creative process: one that follows a narrative arc. This makes hearing “Clearly” on its own slightly bittersweet; to reveal that ultimate, blissful, cloud-parting moment at the apex without first sulking in the rain. The track is a timeless hybrid—avant pop, ambient, hip hop—deftly lifting from some lost motown of the mind. Inside its sampled lyrics, the autobiographical links are rather direct: an artist flipping his perspective in order to see the world straight again.
Motivated / Unmotivated is out today in tape format on Patient Sounds.