“Nai Palm is the epitome of cool. Her attitude oozes confidence, her speaking voice is perfectly raspy, she knows her sh*t and isn’t afraid to show it, and she can command even the most obnoxious crowd into silence with her incredible vocal range and electric guitar skills” — Capitol Sound DC
A self-taught artist, Nai Palm performs with an intuitive, infectious grace, sculpting songs treasured across the world. It is a world she has travelled many times over with her band Hiatus Kaiyote, who, along with Nai Palm, have become household names since they first began playing together in Melbourne in 2011.
Hiatus Kaiyote broke internationally in 2012 with their first LP, Tawk Tomahawk, which was praised by simpatico musical travellers from Erykah Badu to Questlove to Prince, and embraced by DJs like the BBC’s Gilles Peterson, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Anthony Valadez (KCRW/Morning Becomes Eclectic). Their first R&B Grammy nomination, for their song “Nakamarra,” was followed by a second for “Breathing Underwater,” from their sophomore album, 2015’s Choose Your Weapon. Still, their music defied categorisation: some called it “neo-soul,” others “future soul”; the band calls it, simply, wondercore. Their music found fans in hip-hop, sampled on songs by The Carters (Beyoncé & Jay-Z), Kendrick Lamar, Anderson Paak, Chance the Rapper and Drake – who Nai Palm collaborated with on his Scorpion album – and in jazz, when Robert Glasper invited the band to appear on his album of Miles Davis remakes, Everything’s Beautiful. Their records and live shows earned acclaim in The Guardian, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times, where Jon Pareles wrote that “Hiatus Kaiyote’s music stretches and bends every parameter.”
In 2016, she retreated to the Australian desert, where she recorded her debut solo record Needle Paw, a whisper-close collection of songs connecting the dots between Hiatus Kaiyote’s music and her own inspirations. That spirit of blending began with Nai, growing up in her mother Suzie Ashman’s Melbourne home, vibrating with the sounds of Motown, flamenco, African music and hip-hop. After her mother died of breast cancer, the 11-year-old Nai went to live with a foster family high in the Australian Alps. By the time she found her way back to Melbourne, she had acquired three things: an abiding spiritual connection to the land; an uncanny, self-taught mastery of two instruments – the guitar and her own voice; and the ability to write songs as complex as her influences.
Nai Palm is guest Artist-in-Residence at MPAC this year, bringing her internationally celebrated voice and musicianship to a special collaboration with Monash’s Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance.
Nai’s support artists are the recipients of the School’s Songwriting Prize 2026, designed to inspire and promote original new music by our young Australian musicians. To be announced.
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