Mistletone

KHUN NARIN TOUR DATES:

SATURDAY MARCH 6 + SUNDAY MARCH 7: WOMADELAIDE. Tickets on sale here.
+ more to be announced!

“Khun Narin is almost too good to be true” – NPR
“One of the most eccentric psychedelic records of the year” – WIRED
“Indescribably beautiful psychedelia” – Newsweek

Mistletone proudly presents Khun Narin, journeying from Thailand’s Phetchabun Mountains to WOMADelaide + more to come.

The multi-generational psychedelic ensemble from rural Thailand whose ecstatic performances have quietly become a global cult phenomenon, recently released their long-awaited third album III via Innovative Leisure.

Hailing from the valleys of Thailand’s Phetchabun Mountains, Khun Narin originated as a celebration ensemble for rural ceremonies, particularly pre-ordination fire rituals. What begins as a spiritual procession often transforms into something more transcendent, musicians of all ages locked into spiraling repetition, rhythms surging forward, the entire village pulled into a shared state of euphoria.

Khun Narin’s handmade sound system, a towering stack of horn speakers mounted on wheels and pushed through the village like a moving stage, its blast of sound pulling people from their homes, many joining the procession with instruments in hand as the parade grows in real time. At the core of the sound is the electrified phin, a three-stringed lute whose piercing, serpentine melodies cut through a dense wall of percussion and amplification.

The group first reached global audiences through a grainy YouTube upload that led to their 2014 international debut, introducing a sound that felt both ancient and radically new. Attempts to categorize it––surf rock, molam, garage psych, ritual trance––fell short. Champions, including Gilles Peterson, Bonobo, and Floating Points, have since amplified their reach, helping transform a hyper-local tradition into a global point of reference.

Now, ten years after their last release, originally recorded live in the fields of their village, the band returns with III, their first album recorded in a professional studio. Tracked in Los Angeles following their 2024 US tour and produced by Tommy Brenneck, whose credits include Amy Winehouse, Charles Bradley, Sharon Jones, Beyoncé, and Mark Ronson, the sessions capture Khun Narin Electric Phin Band with unprecedented depth and clarity while preserving the raw, communal intensity that defines their sound.

Across III, the band moves seamlessly between traditional forms and global influences, from the all-consuming medley of “Poet Wong” to the deep-rooted rhythms of “Sut Sanaen,” culminating in a reimagined tribute to patron sonic saint Santana on “Black Magic Woman.” The result is both refinement and revelation, collapsing boundaries between ceremonial music and global pop language in real time. The phin still soars in sharp, spiraling lines, the percussion still drives with marathon force, but now every element resonates with newfound dimension.

III feels like a continuation of something timeless, a living tradition amplified for the world stage. It is music that exists beyond borders, beyond genre, and beyond expectation, communal, kinetic, and joyfully uncontainable.