Every detail rings out with purpose in The Paper Kites’ immaculate indie folk. Formed in 2009 in Melbourne around the songwriting core of singer-guitarist Sam Bentley and singer-guitarist-keyboardist Christina Lacy, the band quickly learned exactly how and when to use each element in a song’s arrangement. Released in 2010, their debut single, “Bloom,” hung on delicate fingerpicking, rising harmonies, and even a whistling passage, achieving platinum sales in multiple countries. “The Mortal Boy King,” from 2011’s Woodland EP, shifts from similar sparseness to a rousing climax featuring a tide of group vocals, while 2015’s “Electric Indigo” adopts the wide scope and windswept romance of heartland rock. For 2023’s At the Roadhouse, The Paper Kites recorded over a month at a country property in Victoria, relishing that intimate rustic setting on slow and sparse numbers like “I Don’t Want to Go That Way.”