The Paper Kites @ Ogden Theatre

The Paper Kites delivered an outstanding performance at Ogden Theatre on February 28, 2024, leaving the Denver crowd in awe. With Bella White warming up the stage, the crowd was given a beautiful evening.

Bella White

Bella White’s clear, keening twang and penchant for bluegrass belies the singer/songwriter’s roots in Calgary. Just Like Leaving, her 2020 debut album, sounds as if it came from the Appalachian hills, not Canada. A listen reveals that White isn’t a revivalist. She bent old ways to suit herself, adapting Americana styles to fit her introspective and impassioned songwriting. She emphasized her modern indie accents on Among Other Things. Her sophomore set, produced by Jonathan Wilson and featuring Big Thief guitarist Buck Meek.

Raised in Calgary, Bella is the daughter of a Virginia banjoist who shared his love of folk, country, and bluegrass. She learned how to play music at an early age, writing her first song when she was seven. As a child she regularly attended folk festivals and music camps, branching outside traditional bluegrass as she became a teenager. Certainly as her adolescence progressed, so did her songwriting skills. She moved to Boston, where she wrote the bulk of the material that comprised her first record. Meanwhile, by the time she released Just Like Leaving, she had relocated to Nashville.

White worked with producer Patrick M’Gonigle, fiddle player in the Lonely Heartstring Band, to record her debut, Just Like Leaving. Released on Rounder in September 2020, the album helped establish her in Americana circles. To expand her musical purview for her second album, she worked with Jonathan Wilson. Recorded at Fivestar Studios in Topanga Canyon, the album featured several indie musicians, including Buck Meek of Big Thief.

pulled from All Music

The Paper Kites

The Paper Kites are an Australian indie folk group based out of Melbourne. Their sound mixes lush harmonies, introspective lyrics, and wistful, often soaring melodies. They rose to popularity in the mid-2010s with albums like States and the more inventive, more pop-oriented Twelvefour. The group earned an ARIA Music Award nod for their fourth album, On the Corner Where You Live.

The Paper Kites initially formed from high school buddies, Sam Bentley and Christina Lacy. Members David Powys (guitar/banjo), Sam Rasmussen (bass/synth), and Josh Bentley (drums) were recruited in 2010 to complete the lineup. Eventually, they released their debut single, “Bloom.” With their warm, harmonic blend and acoustic indie folk sound, their first EP, Woodland, began to pick up steam. By early 2012 the Paper Kites were headlining across Australia and had landed a couple of key television song placements. In 2012, they issued a second EP instead called Young North.

The band’s debut LP, States, finally arrived in late 2013, and they made their first trip to North America. Beginning by supporting Canadian group, City & Colour, then embarking on their own headlining tour. Seeking a different direction for their sophomore album, the band worked with producer Phil Ek. Ek helped them develop a more lush, synth-based sound. Twelvefour, a concept album composed entirely between the hours of midnight and 4 a.m. Their follow-up album, On the Train Ride Home, consisted largely of hushed acoustic material. Initially made as a double album, they made the second half into another album, On the Corner Where You Live. The two albums got the Paper Kites an ARIA Music Award nomination for Best Adult Contemporary Album of the Year.

pulled from All Music