STACK October 2016 Issue 144

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OCTOBER

2016

MUSIC

REVIEWS

Q1/

Tell us about the

When The Tequila Runs

Out

video – does the blonde poodle-haired guy

with the Potter glasses [Griffin Goldsmith, drums]

own the blonde poodle-haired dog with the Potter

glasses?

Those were a lot of our best friends. The dog's name

is Lambert and he belongs to my buddy Thom, who's the

guy with the tennis-racket-as-guitar in the video.

Q2/

You’ve said these songs were all written in

the same small bracket of time – was it intentional,

or did it just happened to be a period of prolificity?

I just felt like I was in a good place after finishing the

last record and didn't want to slow down. If it were up to

me, we'd be releasing music every six months or so, but I

just can't write that fast.

Q3/

There are tiny clucking woodblock noises at

the end of

Roll With The Punches

that somehow

add volumes to the feel of those phrases. How do

you make decisions on something like that?

Moments like that are definitely intended to

elevate the section without really making it clear to

the listener as to how. Griffin is so good with finding

those percussion instruments and parts that really help

shape the dynamic of a section in new, unexpected and

sometimes subliminal ways.

Q4/

You guys recorded previous album

All Your

Favourite Bands

in a live set-up, all together

–

did

you do the same with

We're All Gonna Die

If the tracks of the last record were created on a

stage, the tracks for this record were created in the

studio. We wanted to find new ways of presenting our

songs, try to get the impression back to that feeling

you got when you didn't know what a bass or what a

guitar or what a keyboard sounded like, and it all just

hit you as music. We had a great time creating sounds

that were really bizarre and fresh to our ears, but still

appropriate to the song.

BRODIE BRÜMMER

FLYYING COLOURS

Mindfullness

by Flyying

Colours is out now via

Universal.

lyying Colours fans have been waiting a few

moons to hear the band’s debut album – the

Melbourne four-piece have two acclaimed EPs

under their belt, but

Mindfullness

elevates the

group’s psych-rock even higher. Tidal waves

of gorgeous guitars eddy around frontman

Brodie Brümmer’s voice, with warped tremolo

a constant fontice piece – particularly in the

compelling title track. “It’s what it would feel

like, I imagine, when you’re standing on that

Eureka Sky Deck and someone hits the button

and [the floor] goes clear,” Brümmer says. “You

kind of know you’re not going to die, but you’re

still standing there.” He’s attempting to

explain the decision behind the track’s

chords – there’s a really unexpected

inversion in there which puts you off

balance – but he says he doesn’t try to

deliberately push himself theoretically when

writing. “I try and turn all that [music theory]

off, otherwise I probably wouldn’t write any

songs at all,” he explains. “It starts to really

bend my brain. [Theory] can be really helpful

DAWES

INTERVIEW

here’s a line in

I Don’t Feel So Alive

where

Gabriella Cohen sings “You know I can’t

tell a lie,” and that’s exactly the impression

you get when speaking to the woman. She’s

totally guileless, in just the same

way her unhurried, unaffected vocals

and blithe electric guitar suggest.

Formerly of The Furrs, Cohen has

burst out with debut solo album

Full Closure And No Details

; she

recorded the blues-infused rock

offering at a friend’s house. “That’s

her mother’s piano,” she says of

the dark-stringed beast that leads

Piano Song

. “It’s definitely old and

it’s out of tune.” It’s guitar that’s

Cohen’s primary weapon, as well

as its accoutrements – in

Sever The Walls

there’s a weird organ sound which Cohen

says is a Yamaha keyboard filtered through

her guitar pedals. “I don’t understand them

all,” she says of those wee effects

boxes. “They’re all like little animals.

They’re little creatures and they all do

different things, and they all respond

at different levels.” The crazy droning

animals at the end of

This Could Be

Love

? Those are creatures too. “Yeah,

there was a farm,” Cohen says. “We

ran into a field of cows with a little

microphone.” Maybe she doesn’t lie,

but it’s possible she doesn’t let the

truth get in the way of a good Old

MacDonald yarn either.

if you want a certain feeling… but I find the

more simple tunes are always the ones I like

the most: the ones that come out naturally,

where you’re not searching.” In that vein, he

likes the unpredictability of using tremolo with

guitar. “That’s the cool thing, particularly about

shoegaze guitar, in general. Every time you play

it, it’s going to be different. That’s the nature of

the instrument – that’s the difference between

a guitar and a synthesizer, I think. It’s intriguing.

You never know how to re-create that sound

exactly.”

Brümmer’s not afraid of using the word

‘shoegaze’, nor does he dislike the liberal use

of it when applied to Flyying Colours, but there

has been one instance in which a comparison

rattled him. “Placebo. Someone said we

sounded like Placebo,” he says. “That f-–ed

with my head for days, trying to work out in

what element of us this person found

Placebo… I could not wrap my head

around that one. But [‘shoegaze’] isn’t a

dirty word. I like it.”

Full Closure

And No Details

by Gabriella

Cohen is out

now via Remote

Control.

continued

FACTOID:

The clip for Flyying Colours' single

It's Tomorrow Now

was created by longtime artistic collaborator Thom

Russell, who also creates real-time visuals for the band's live performances.

We're All Gonna Die

by Dawes is out now via

ADA/Warner.

Taylor Goldsmith, frontman for

Californian rock band Dawes,

answers a few queries about the

group's new album,

We're All

Gonna Die

TOURING

18/11 - 2/12

INTERVIEW

GABRIELLA

COHEN

INTERVIEW