On blistering days when sun worship claims every inch of South Florida beach, the squinting through salted hazy air and the sunlight-induced retinal burn will eventually take their toll.
You reach a limit; it’s time for refuge and relief. And like a good poolside evening hang, the indie-exotica conjurers of Kairos Creature Club are here to help. ”We want to put you in a trance and serve you cold waves of catharsis that transcend the lingering summer swelter that is Florida in September,” founding Club member Glenn Michael Van Dyke tells PureHoney ahead of the group playing Bumblefest.
As refreshing as their new-wavey chill, Jacksonville, Florida’s Kairos Creature Club are ineffable notes of surf, lounge, pop, punk and more. Even Van Dyke can’t quite put a finger on what it is they do. ”It’s something different,” she ventures. If it’s a challenge to define this non-traditionalistic collective, it’s only because these groovy alt-rebel artists — the core duo of Van Dyke, also of Boytoy, and Lena Simon of La Luz — are living their art, and producing music as a self-expressive, authentic extension of their individual and conjoined creative evolutions.
Since our last encounter with them in early 2022, Kairos Creature Club have opened for Caroline Rose and, while on tour crossed off “some bucket list venues,” in their words, including Chicago’s Thalia Hall, the Fonda Theater in Los Angeles and The Fillmore in San Francisco. They played the fourth and fifth editions of the music festival they co-founded in Jacksonville, Winterland. They made another record, renovated their home studio, and designed a new visual element to accompany their live shows.
Van Dyke is tight-lipped on the setlist for Bumblefest and on confirmation or denial of any special guests. But, before she signed off, she left us daydreaming about the band’s upcoming visit: “We want to leave you utterly confused about what you just witnessed, yet with a certainty of desire to do it over and over again.”
Bumblefest, with 40 acts on 5 stages, is September 1-2 in downtown West Palm Beach. bumblefest.com, kairoscreatureclub.com ~ Amanda Moore
