The Gaslight Anthem: The next U2? (for The Music Network)

29 March 2011

by Poppy Reid

The Gaslight Anthem frontman, Brian Fallon is wholly humbled when he speaks to TMN at a post Soundwave barbecue in Sydney. Cigarette in mouth, Fallon says the New Jersey boys may not be a punk band, but it’s the punk scene which has instilled their hard-hat ethos.

“We’ve always been more of a punk band in moral and ethics rather than sound, we’ve been more of a rock ‘n’ roll band in sound,” he says from under his signature cabbie hat. “We come from the punk scene and that’s where we get our focus and the things that are important to us.”

It’s been six-years since Fallon and band mates, guitarist Alex Rosamilia, drummer Ben Horowitz and bassist Alex Levine formed through a predilection of blue-collar rock and fellow Jersey musician,Bruce Springsteen. Since the release of their third record, American Slang in July last year, the quartet have sold out arenas, toured worldwide and even been publicly championed by The Boss himself; all with little radio airplay and under indie label, Side One Dummy.

“I think we’re doing it right, we’re not doing it on a hit single, we’re not on the radio that much, we’re not on a big label; a lot of it I feel like we’ve done on our own.”

Fallon isn’t just being modest when he says they haven’t had a hit single, American Slang didn’t even chart here in Australia, yet the band played sold out gigs last month in both Sydney and Melbourne. All this off the back of an album Fallon wasn’t even satisfied with.

“If you ask me in some aspects, and I know it’s terrible to say about a record, but I think that we did some things wrong and some things right; but I think that we’re writing songs that are more educated, better versions of what we did in the past.”

The ‘wrong things’ Fallon alludes to is the same issue media often question the band about. With lyrics soaked in nostalgia like “we did it when we were young” and "Don't sing me the songs about the good times/ Those days are gone and you should just let them go," you have to remind yourself the person who’s singing them is only 31-years-old.

“That’s what I didn’t like about it,” Fallon admits. “Because I realised I was longing for the very things that are passing me by right now today and that was where I made mistakes.”

Because their songs not only have a nostalgic tone to them but they also explore the concept of nostalgia, so it’s apposite for Fallon to feel he may have travelled that path too early. But when he does take a step back to smell the roses, their rise from Jersey basements to sold-out arenas in the space of four-years couldn’t smell sweeter.

“On American Slang I had a lot of reactions against things, I didn’t expect anybody to like our band and they did…We went really big in a lot of places, we went from playing basements, to halls, to venues to Radio City Music Hall in four years which is insane.”

This conscious understanding of where the band fit in the industry and the opportunities they know will soon be at their feet, has brought Fallon to a crossroads; and for a man who immerses himself in every aspect of his career it’s surprising to hear he has no idea which road they’ll take next.

“I don’t know what our next move is; I don’t know whether we’re gonna go to a major label or not. What I do know is that we’re probably gonna end up talking to Side One (Dummy) about what to do.

“Even if you did sign up to a major label, you don’t buy into the thing. You’re not like ‘I’m a rock star now, I’m more important than everyone else.’ You’re the same kid but just maybe, hopefully, you can get your songs out to more people and maybe even get played on radio.”

With a head screwed on as tight as Fallon’s, along with his unassuming ethics and youthful sense of wonderment, it’s clear The Gaslight Anthem will still be telling our stories from stadium stages for years to come.

“Maybe we can play Madison Square Garden, maybe we’re the nextU2, who knows!” he laughs before considering it seriously. “You know what would be really cool is if we were the next U2 and we were still cool and taking out bands like The Bouncing Souls and saying ‘hey kids guess what? You get to play an arena now’; but we were still the same; that’s the cool part.”

American Slang is out now through Shock Records.

Album review: Rise Against, Endgame (for The Music Network)

28 March 2011

by Poppy Reid

Rise Against wouldn’t be Rise Against without a fistful of political and religious opinions and ravings; their sixth offering, Endgame is no different, except this time around, lead singer Tim McIlrath has decided not to scream so much about it. Although he’s certainly not giving up on his struggle to grasp his surroundings; there is a strong sense of helplessness throughout the record.

The Chicago punk quartet have pieced Endgame together rather intelligently, injecting dogmatic tracks in between bluesy, radio-ready rock songs. In Survivor Guilt, McIlrath sings from a dead soldier's point of view and begs America to stop destroying itself with greed;Gentleman’s Coup is another political vociferate where high-energy drums and guitars tease us in to the story of a nuclear radiation hazard with slow thuds, which get faster and faster before exploding in sonic bursts before each chorus.

Breaking up these lyric heavy tracks are Broken Mirrors, where McIlrath’s raspy scream matches perfectly with a twisted ‘80s riff, Wait For Me with an immaculate fusion of percussion and bass, and Help Is On The Way, where the catchy backing vocals are sure to stick to your brain for days after first listen.

Although McIlrath has toned his screams down a notch or two since the days of The Unraveling, they do make a welcome comeback inDisparity By Design and Midnight Hands; even if only for cursory moments.

The most harrowing track on the record, Make It Stop (September’s Children), is also the most adventurous. Rise Against question religion’s ethics and definition of 'equality' in a call to end bullying against homosexuals. Hopefully lyrics like “What God would damn a heart/ And what God drove us apart/ What God could?” will open a few eyes. The track finishes with a voice reading the names and ages of teenagers who committed suicide as a result of homophobia in September last year.

The album closer and title track has as much heart as Rise Against's politically charged songs but instead paints anarchy in a positive light. “Let’s shed this unclean skin/ And start to feel again/ Because the shoulders on which to cry on are gone.” McIlrath is pleading for a rebirth, unfortunately it takes more than poignant lyrics and punk-rock to curb ignorance.

Endgame is out now through Interscope Records

Live review: Usher (for The Music Network)

24 March 2011

by Poppy Reid

Acer Arena, Sydney, NSW
Wednesday March 23 

Judging by all the bouncing mini skirts and boob tubes, the Acer Arena was more than ready for a night of R ‘n’ B, sticky sweat and hectic choreography at Usher’s first of four sold out Sydney performances.

American singer/songwriter Trey Songz had even the most scantily clad crowd member blushing when he tore off his singlet, shoved it down his pants and dangled it in front of the arena like meat before wolves.

“How many ladies love to ride?!” he yelled before Neighbours Know My Name. He then picked a girl to sit onstage with him and have a not so discreet pash behind his sweat-soaked singlet.

Usher rose up onto the stage in a haze of red smoke and fireworks, wearing what looked like a motorcycle helmet. Opening with Monster, She Don’t Know and Yeah, Usher’s incredible dance crew amazed, incorporating different styles of dance and theatre into the energetic set. Usher proved himself just as talented as he joined in the choreography, mostly skipping out on singing each chorus to devote his concentration to his MJ moves.

“Sydney I’m gonna take y’all back real quick,” he said before favourites likeYou Remind Me, You Make Me Wanna, Nice & Slow and Trading Places. With more costume changes than a Britney concert and sweat that fell like rain with each pirouette, we were more relieved than excited when he finally tore his shirt off.

“I'm gonna need one lovely lady from the crowd tonight.” Women were literally begging to join him onstage and after the dry sex show he performed on a couch with his selection, it more than made sense.

Perhaps the only disappointment in this visual feast was when Usher teased us with “Not too long ago I paid tribute to the greatest entertainer of all time, would it be right if I did it again?” Sparkling shoes appeared on a running treadmill in the middle of the stage.

“Had he not wore the white socks I wouldn't be able to wear the black shoes,” Usher climbed into his disco shoes and danced for less than two-minutes to a backing mash-up of Michael Jackson hits. More than a few of the crowd seemed unsatisfied with the singular moonwalk and only a few crotch grabs.

However, he did redeem himself in Caught Up when he appeared with a gold mic in the shape of a gun, blowing us all away (figuratively of course) with his hand skills. During final track More, the dancers turned the show into a circus with break dancing and explosion after beautiful explosion shooting from every corner.

Usher saved the best for last with OMG as the encore. It rained fireworks and white and blue confetti for a visually appeasing end to an even more spectacular night. 

Imelda May: The pint-sized Queen of rockabilly (for The Music Network)

22 March 2011

by Poppy Reid

It’s as if pint-sized Irish, rockabilly Queen, Imelda May has stepped straight out of the 1950s, she’s brought with her more spunk and backbone than her size lets on.

Performing and writing since she was 16, the now 37-year-old chats to TMN from Byron Bay where she’s nursing golf ball sized mosquito bites and touring her 3x Platinum third release, Mayhem. The Meteor Award winner says critics and record labels who told her rockabilly was the kiss of death only made her want to add more of it to her music.

“I was told initially, ‘get rid off the rockabilly and you’ll do really well.’ But I couldn’t do that and I couldn’t understand why anybody could notwant rockabilly not to be a part of music.

“It did do me a favour coz it made me put rockabilly more into my music, I am stubborn in that way,” she laughs, she does that a lot.

Funnily enough, Universal, the label that rejected her demo with the aforementioned criticism in 2008 is the same label she is now happily signed to. Asked why she didn’t reject them right back May laughs and says, “I’m not stupid!”

It’s clear May has paved her path to success with tenacity and raw talent; she holds no animosity toward Universal and is instead, understanding. Having produced Mayhem and its predecessor Love Tattoo, she knows full well a label’s need to brand and market an artist.

“I think I was a risk. For a record company, it’s easier for them to sell and market something if it has a label,” she says. “They got me to record a demo and I didn’t hear anything back from them so I presumed that was that. They said afterwards that they just didn’t get it.”

May saw the dismissal as an opportunity, she record an album in a makeshift cowshed-turned-studio that her husband/guitarist built. Without the pressures of A&R input and politics, May released Love Tattoo in 2008. She may have had the talent all along but what happened next proves the unfortunate but true importance of a credible admirer. After a support slot on Jools Holland’s Australian tour the pianist/talk show host handpicked May to fill in for Natalie Cole on his television show …Later With Jools Holland.

“Then everything kicked off within hours, I got a call from Universal and they said ‘what we didn’t get about Imelda May last month we get now, can we talk?’ and I said ‘yes absolutely!”

As a major label with acts like Rihanna, The Killers and Lady Gagalisted in its catalogue, it’s understandable that Universal struggled at first to follow May’s fusion of blues, country and of course that supposed kiss of death, rockabilly. However, the uncontrollable inspiration May gets from her husband and band mate Darrel Highammore than makes sense.

“We’ve been together 14 years so when you’re been married for such a long time you’ve loads of ups and downs, he gives me plenty of fodder for writing.

“Sometimes I think he should be careful,” she giggles. “If we have a row I’ll write it down and put it on the next album,” she’s almost beside herself with laughter at this point. “I’ve threatened him with that all time, he says ‘don’t you dare!’ We do laugh about it.”

Another credible admirer who has inspired May is UK guitar legend,Jeff Beck. “To get the thumbs up from a genius like Jeff Beck who’s a fantastic guitar genius certainly does no harm,” she says. His public support of her work has lead to collaborations both onstage, honouring Les Paul at last years’ Grammy Awards, and in the studio on his album, Emotion & Commotion.

May’s gratitude towards Beck goes beyond borders when discussing their friendship. I imagine her eyes are glazed over in reverence for him when she says, “He does things with his guitar that really shouldn’t be able to be done physically with a guitar at all. He can move notes and make it sound like a human almost, it’s unbelievable…When I’m singing with Jeff it feels like we’re singing a duet.”

Just as Jeff Beck has made a perpetual imprint on music history, May aims to do the same and convert rockabilly skeptics by using her music as a gateway to veteran hall of famers.

“What I want to do is capture the excitement of the rockabilly and the rebelliousness, it’s quite a sexy music…I hate when you hear music playing and it has a nostalgic feel to it, it shouldn’t be like that.

“Some people say because of me and the band they’ve looked into rockabilly and are now mad Johnny Burnette fans. I hope I bring some excitement from rockabilly into today.”

Sparkadia: One Bright Spark (for The Music Network)

18 March 2011

by Poppy Reid

When his three bandmates simultaneously left the band he’d fronted for the last eight years, Alex Burnett didn’t think twice about going it alone.

Nor did he think of “doing the whole acoustic, woe is me solo record,” he says.

Instead, he packed up his bags and ideas and recorded Sparkadia’s sophomore album The Great Impression in London. Although the split wasn’t his choice, to him, keeping Sparkadia alive was the only option.

“It wasn’t really my call,” he tells TMN. “Everyone had their own lifestyle reasons to why they didn’t want to stick it out. For me, I wanted more of the wildness, more of the madness, more of the huge ups and downs.”

Former keys player, guitarist and vocalist, Tiffany Preece left to have a baby, bass player Nick Rabone is currently gallivanting around India, and drummer Dave Hall has done a full 360 and is now working in finance. “I suppose they just wanted more stability and maybe they wanted to earn a bit more money,” says the 28-year-old. “Nothing wrong with that!”

With his bandmates’ blessing, Burnett then set about writing what he refers to as a “development” from Sparkadia’s debut, Postcards. Apart from the obvious recording differences (sans band), Burnett says the biggest change he felt was a sense of freedom.

“By them leaving, there was a sense of freedom because I could do whatever I wanted to…it allowed me to be more brutal, to do whatever it takes. I’m much more willing to take risks now.

“I think if I had a band I wouldn’t have had the same result because you’d have to think about four people and their respective asks and now I’m able to be the lone ranger and go with the flow.”

Burnett saw London as the best place to write singles like Talking Like I'm Falling Down Stairs and the more recent China for the country’s unique pop scene.

“They do have a real support of pop music that’s a little bit odd and that’s what excited,” he tells. “Also the culture of music making is much more prevalent there, maybe because of the living standards and the weather and all that…For me I just wanted to go there alone with little money and see what I could do in a year.”

Although the resulting opus picks up where Postcards left off, Burnett says The Great Impression is “bigger, bolder and poppier” and a completely autobiographical concept record about impressions. However, if Burnett had gone with his initial title we could be readying ourselves for a much more morbid release.

“I was writing a song called The Great Depression but I thought to myself it wasn’t really an inspiring title,” he laughs. “Changing it allowed me to think of the various relationships that I’ve had and the various ways in which people leave an impression on you, whether it’s a long lasting one or first impression and the concept of how people can leave imprints on you that are very hard to crush.”

It’s because of Burnett’s amicable heart-on-sleeve approach to writing that it may come as no surprise he’ll completely ditch the 30-odd tracks that didn’t make the record.

“Songs are like little snap shots of a moment, they’re little tiny feelings or a weekend romance. Sometimes to rekindle them feels a bit off, like trying to get back with an ex-girlfriend when you know it’s not right.”

Perhaps it’s for that same reason that Burnett moved Sparkadia on without replacing its other core members. After all as the band’s creator, it only makes sense he will always see it as unfinished.

“In a way I was always the dictator, everyone had their input but I guess it was always my baby. I suppose it was always meant to be. Maybe it was fate.”

The Great Impression is out today through Ivy League

Album Review: James Blake, James Blake (for The Music Network)

16 March 2011

by Poppy Reid

James Blake’s eponymously titled first full-length proves the increasing irrelevance of backing bands and vocalists. The BBC Sound of 2011 runner-up uses cut and paste samplings, voice tripling and the wondrous world of synths to create a beautifully depressing yet immensely impressive debut record.

Album opener, Unluck is like hearing music underwater for the first time. The music and vocals swim through the piano line all hazy and out of focus, much like the blurred self-portrait on the album cover.

On tracks like second single, The Wilhelm Scream and Give Me My Mouth, the 22-year-old producer's vocals may be repetitive but should really be heard as if they are notes moving in and around the grainy synths and piano. His voice takes on the guise of an instrument and because of his sometimes lyrical failings, should be heard as such.

Conversely, some synths take on a humanistic feel, principally evident in the track, I Never Learnt To Share where the intro sounds like a giant walking through a wet forest, it may seem like I have a highly exaggerative imagination but James Blake has that effect on you.

The only confusion with the iron-willed record is on parts I and II ofLindisfarne, which beg the question; must he always hide his voice behind a mask of synths? Understandably, in a heavily digital reliant world we have come to expect this sort of experimentation on most albums, but Blake has you searching for his true voice in this track instead of enjoying his metamorphosis into a, well… robot. Another incertitude is the fact part I and II do merge together perfectly, perhaps his fear to let loose and have one indulgent track on the album was curbed by thoughts of instilling his minimalist approach that travels over the other tracks.

Blake’s first single and Feist cover, Limit To Your Love is an ode to relationships that turn sour and is one of the only tracks that strip his bluesy voice back its true nature. Although he does hold back with his delivery, he loses his little-white-boy-behind-a-laptop image and reveals himself accessible to a wider audience.

The album closer, Measurements prove to all computer nerds and Nigel’s that they don’t need a hoard of backing vocalists to create a gospel choir ambience. Blake triples his voice to create the same effect in this beautiful final track that encompasses gentle repetition with an even more subtle bass line. Measurements, sans drums, at four minutes and 20 seconds is much like the album as a whole, a collection of alter boy blues and bliss.

Live review: Ke$ha

11 March 2011

by Poppy Reid

Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, NSW

Thursday March 10

Blissfully ignorant parents who thought Ke$ha’s lyrics didn’t get any more filthy than what was played on NOVA got a rude awakening last night.

Opening with Sleazy, the 23–year-old LA native hit the stage wearing what could only be described as lingerie on acid. Her stage lit up one laser at a time revealing her mohawk’d guitarist and drummer elevated high within her stage scaffolding.

Tiny tots with glitter-speckled cherub faces held tight to their parent’s hands while Ke$ha sang “beats so fat gonna make me come, all over your face." Parents cringed and gasped under the strobe lights.

Ke$ha threw up her two middle fingers before Take It Off where she stood behind her decks and played DJ. “I wanna see you all on your very worst behavior,” she screamed before strumming a few chords on an electric guitar. She may not be the best musician or dancer for that matter (she made even the simplest of choreography look a little sloppy), but watching her on the stage and bask under the fleuro lime-light, it was clear this was where she was meant to be.

“Are you guys ready to blow the motherfucking roof off this motherfucking place?!” she asked. Shirtless dancers with oversized flash cameras stalked the stage for Dirty Picture and confetti exploded either side of the stage for Blow. Ke$ha sprayed the audience with the beer she sipped on, cartwheeled and hilariously licked and bit her keyboardist. “This song is about this bitch who stole my car,” she said before Backstabber.

For all the drag and hysterical insanity happening onstage, the highlight was her latest album’s title track. “I eat men coz I'm a motherfucking cannibal! Don't fuck with crazy bitches boys, they'll eeeeeat you!” she screamed.

Her minions then proceeded to tie a dancer to a large wooden X and tear his 'fake' limbs off, the X then spun around to reveal a skeleton. The riot continued through tracks Animal, Dinosaur and a song about an ex-boyfriend who refused to go to “the bum zone” with her, entitledGrow A Pair. Ke$ha chose a very willing kid from the audience, tied him to a chair and had a dancer wearing a giant penis rub its balls in the poor kids face. “It’s Mr. Penis!” she hollered.

Final tracks Your Love Is My Drug and Tick Tock were like a mini, super-confined Mardi Gras, with flags flying, balloons bouncing through the crowd and glitter absolutely everywhere. Mothers walked their tired little ones out through the gates and their faces said it all: ‘I hope to god she doesn’t turn out like her..’

Album Review: Jessie J, Who You Are (for The Music Network)

08 March 2011

by Poppy Reid

What first strikes a chord on Jessie J's debut is that the BBC Sound of 2011 winner is unabashedly proud to accentuate her British accent. On opening track and single Price Tag the Londoner's vocals contrast with featuring artist B.o.B who seems to have gotten a little lazy as his component seems to be ripped straight from his and River Cuomo's collaboration, Magic.

Nonetheless, Jessie J's offering is a little gem of commercial radio heaven, the almost 22-year-old channels Rihanna with her deep rusta growl on Nobody's Perfect, Nicki Minaj for her pop-hop attitude on first single Do It Like A Dude, Christina Aguilera on the cabaret-esqueMama Knows Best, and Katy Perry on Abracadabra (which has the tone and pitch of Teenage Dream); "I can be all you want, I just wanna be your girl," she sings.

At times, her to-a-T pop structure, voice and music can compliment the themes of forgiveness, the importance of being yourself and (of course) lurve a little too well, as these are themes that only scratch the surface of what an accomplished young woman Jessie J really is.

Redemption is found on Big White Room, a ballad which touches on the heart condition she developed after suffering a minor stroke as a teenager. This track makes up for the lyrically naff Casualty Of Lovewhich could have been scrapped and left the album at a well-rounded 12 tracks instead of 13. The same could have been said for I Need This if it wasn't so structurally genius; her unique arrangement keeps you guessing and guessing.

No pop release would be complete with a little bit of corn; Jessie J gets slightly poxy on L.O.V.E with lyrics like "I said I'd never write a song about love but it feels this good a song fits like a glove." However, you do get a sense she's well aware of it and doesn't care.

Final song and title track, Who You Are, could be the soundtrack to your kids' high school graduation, “don’t lose who you are in the blur of the stars,” she sings. But the best part about her debut is the fact she proves you don’t have to seek out a ghost writer to produce accessible pop.

Jessie J is a talented writer and singer who is able to tap into the commercial sphere and sprinkle radio-ready magic on almost every single track.

Who You Are is out now through Universal Music.

Live review: Rihanna (for The Music Network)

07 March 2011

by Poppy Reid

Acer Arena, Sydney, NSW
Friday March 4 

You have to give a pop icon credit when they shamelessly let their backing vocalists do most of the lung-work. The 22-year-old may have let her back up and the crowd sing for her at Acer Arena on Friday night but her obvious and candid refusal to do it herself as she held her mic high in air did set her apart from one Britney Spears. Oh, and the flashing article excerpt on the big screen, which read: “the retarded slut can’t sing.”

Opening with a disappearing act, Rihanna welcomed us to the Mad House of multiple costume changes, guns and chains galore and the sexiest booty dancing the gaggles of tweens have ever seen. In opening tracks like Only Girl (In The World) and Hard dancers flaunted fluoro pink guns while Rihanna rode the cannon of a pink tanker. ForDrive, she took to a graffed up car with a baseball bat and weaved through stilt monsters for Disturbia.

“You are the consumer, She…The Soul Option,” the marquee of text streamed across the big screens, this couldn’t be more true as I looked at 10-year-old protégé’s in awe of the diva who was now in a pleather one-piece rubbing her crotch; lovely.

During Rockstar, the singer showed her non-existent guitar skills as she haphazardly strummed on the electric instrument, we could have cared less though; the dancers, the projected imagery and the way she later brutalised her drum kit more than made up for it.

Slower tracks like Love The Way You Lie and Take A Bow gave Riri a chance to actually prove her flawless vocal capabilities. The only tracks where her entourage outshone her was in Te Amo with their impressive Capoeira fight-dancing and also Nuno Bettencourt’s guitar solo in Unfaithful. However, apparently not everyone was pulling their weight onstage, “forgive me, my piano players having a bad night. Give it up for the keyboard!” She didn’t even know her musicians name and blamed him for her being out of time in the intro to final track, Take A Bow.

Encore tracks Wait Your Turn, Live Your Life, Run This Town andUmbrella came too soon, the mash-up mix of crowd favourites had everything you’d expect from a Rihanna concert, climactic dancing, epic live sound and explosions from high and low of red confetti.

“Sydney I love you so much I think I'd like to come back here man!”

Fenech-Soler: Not "heartbroken outside a fish 'n’ chip shop" (for The Music Network)

03 March 2011

by Poppy Reid

Brothers and bandmates Ben and Ross Duffy are sitting at Sydney’s Four Seasons hotel, the two Fenech-Soler members are here promoting their band’s self-titled debut on the Good Vibrations tour and have just ordered (in thick Northhampton accents) a cup of English Breakfast tea. To anyone who initially thought they were French, here’s your proof they are in fact, English. But it wasn’t just the moniker that had people scratching their heads, the electro-pop quartet released their first single The Cult Of Romance on Alan Braxe’s French label, Kitsune.

“We were introduced to London via Paris and everyone thought we were Parisian, then we told them we were from a little village in England,” laughs frontman and keyboardist, Ben.

It was in their mother’s home in Kings Cliffe where they recorded the whole debut, “we had two studios set up. Well we say that, but they were bedrooms really,” confesses younger brother and keyboardist, Russ. The band completely took the DIY route; the Duffy’s were in charge of the core of the writing whilst drummer Andrew Lindsay and band namesake, Daniel Soler (who plays bass and synth) would add their percussive and electronic flair before mixing it.

“Quite early on we had it in our head that we’d get to work with a producer at some point. You think wow that will be amazing, they’ll sprinkle this sparkle dust onto each track. Then we did Lies and we thought ‘shit, fuck it’ we can probably just go and do this ourselves,” says Russ. “Especially where the industry is at the minute, for us, being self-sufficient as a band has always been a priority,” adds Ben.

The finished product, which was released last month here in Australia through independent label Shock, isn’t your run-of-the-mill British angst release; it’s “based on colour and imagery and escapism,” says Russ.

“Obviously we were there at home in a small room making a record and that comes across in the lyrics that it’s not necessarily a social commentary or trying to be like angsty or angry or doing the typical British-indie ‘heartbroken outside a fish ‘n’ chip shop’ thing. That wasn’t really interesting to us,” he explains.

In 2006 the Duffy brothers decided they didn’t want to be indie, or heartbroken for that matter, so while electronic music was making an enduring resurgence in the UK that same year, Fenech-Soler would drive the two-hours to London every weekend to play club nights and warehouse parties.

“We were like ‘do we wanna be in a band or do we wanna start making music?’ DJ’s became a really interesting thing in the way the sets were put together…that’s how we started writing with more of a club show in mind,” says Russ. Now, the band are both, their live show of keys, drums, bass and Ben’s manic stage presence tied in with feverish electro-pop makes for a distinctive set most electro acts don’t offer. “We didn’t want to be hunched over a laptop. No disrespect to them but I think that alienates the audience and we want to perform,” he adds.

In many ways they have their electric live performance to thank for having a spotlight thrown on them by UK duo, Groove Armada, who featured Ben on their single Paper Romance. Ben says the collaboration was the pivotal coup to Fenech-Solar’s success.

“I definitely think in the last four years in the UK, collaborations have become so important and that’s probably what this decade of music will be remembered for,” he says.

Ben has even done his homework on Australian electro acts, and says the album mixes experimental sounds found here with American influences and their take on pop.

“It’s a mixture of bands, kind of like Cut Copy and The Presets here in Australia, but with a modern American pop influence.

“It’s essentially just a pop record that’s half in the band world and half in the electronic sphere. I think when we were writing the album we didn’t set out to write songs that were three minutes thirty and had a middle eight and chorus,” Russ states, reassuring us the pop that did inspire them doesn’t involve the work of America’s Britneys or Katy Perrys.

“I think being popular and credible is probably the goal of every band.”