Melbourne-based neo-soul band Hiatus Kaiyote emerged in 2012 with their debut project, Tawk Tomahawk. Their re-release under Salaam Remi’s Flying Buddha imprint on Sony Music led to a remix of their breakout single "Nakamarra" featuring Q-Tip. This success marked a milestone for the group, which consisted of lead singer/guitarist Nai Palm, bassist Paul Bender, keyboardist Simon Mavin, and drummer Perrin Moss. It allowed them to become the first Australian act nominated for a Grammy in the R&B category. 

Nai Palm describes playing in the U.S. and being embraced by Black communities as a magical experience, reflecting on their influence and acceptance despite being a group of white Australians. They’ve hit the point where they’ve become “your favorite artists, favorite artists” from being championed by the likes of Erykah Badu, SZA, and Doja Cat (who covered their 2021 single “Red Room”).

“It’s like I still can’t process it but I think it’s cool because it means that we can still be relatively underground and creative but have one foot in the door of a more of a mainstream audience,” said Nai Palm to BET.com. “It’s really magical.”

Follow-up albums, including 2015’s Choose Your Weapon alongside Mood Valient in 2021, further cemented the self-proclaimed “polyrhythmic gangsters” as genre-bursting artists who have either been sampled by or worked directly with artists ranging from Drake and Kendrick Lamar to Anderson .Paak and The Carters, among others. 

“I think it’s amazing and I think it’s because we play our instruments and I think we put a lot of effort into the production of sound in an old-school way,” explained Nai Palm. “The thing that I love the most about it is, I mean hip hop samples from so many different genres and time periods. So the fact to be able to be a modern artist and still people can find something they deem worthy to be sample is f**king cool because it's typically easier to find sexy drum tones from a Brazilian 1970s record.” 

There’s an organic and unpredictable nature to an album from Hiatus Kaiyote. They usually never come into a project knowing what kind of album they will make until it’s nearly finished. According to Nai Palm, every album and every song has a different approach. 

“We are just really creative, and it’s kind of song by song, then you piece them together, and it reveals itself to you,” Nai Palm said. “It’s like cooking dinner without buying ingredients—you use what you have, and it might be good, it might not, but it will still feed you.” 

For their fourth full-length project and second under Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder imprint under Ninja Tune, Hiatus Kaiyote is taking the same approach with some new ingredients. This includes Bender teaching himself the cello following their Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra-assisted Hollywood Bowl show in 2022 alongside incorporating harpsichord. Add a life lesson about likening love to a video cheat code; it accumulates into Love Heart Cheat Code. 

“The name Love Heart Cheat Code suggests that love acts as a cheat code for life,” explained Nai Palm about the album set for release on June 28th. “It doesn’t necessarily make life easier but it helps you progress further if you approach it from a place of love. It was very intentional to infuse this album with joy because the world is a crazy place. While it's important to acknowledge and grieve, we should never forget our joy.”

That mindset helped Nai Palm as she reflected on various life experiences. Emphasizing that despite enduring significant challenges, such as battling breast cancer in her twenties, she chooses to view the world positively. Makes sense of the Love Heart Cheat Code’s lead single, “Everything’s Beautiful,” which has carefree lyrics like, “I was walking / down on my way / I was fine, fine / with the sun kissing on my face / I was fine.” It’s about the appreciation of life, says Nai Palm.

“I’m still alive and I had a wake up call and now I can live my life fuller because I don’t have this illusion that life is forever and I appreciate my life more,” Nai Palm explained. “That’s a gift. That’s a gift and a choice to think that way. So to me everything’s beautiful. It is not delusional. It’s a choice to see the beauty in things.”

Though Love Heart Cheat Code could be considered their most digestible album, the band’s signature complex rhythms, lush musical melodies, Nai Palm’s extraordinary vocals, and otherworldly vibes remain intact. There isn’t a better of this than “Telescope,” where each track’s verses are inspired by what the NASA Hubble telescope captured on the band member’s birthday. Hiatus Kaiyote also pulled samples from NASA’s Soundcloud account. Meanwhile, the track has Nai Palm making lyrical odes to The Temptations classic “My Girl” and Afrofuturism jazz icon Sun Ra. Other cuts on Love Heart Cheat Code, such as the titular track and “Make Friends,” are filled with musical depth the band is known for but with a sprinkle of pop sensibility.

“I’ve done a few interviews and they’re like ‘yeah you’re going for a more simple thing,” said Nai Palm. “I’m like reall? It doesn’t feel like that. It just feels like we’re just refining s**t.”