Cave Dwellers

After the release of their critically acclaimed debut, Bliss Release, Cloud Control jumped ship from their hometown in the Blue Mountains and did what most Aussie twenty-somethings do – packed up and headed over to the UK.

Okay. Yes, this was a little different to your usual expat adventure, with the foursome committed to one mission: recording album number two. Thankfully though, this cross-country recording sesh worked.

But the whole creative sojourn wasn't easy. Being in a band is hard work. Firstly, there's the writing the music bit. Combine that with egos, attitudes and a generous amount of alcohol, and you have a recipe for both raucous success and tremendous tantrums.

“I think egos are healthy, actually,” shrugs lead vocalist Alister Wright, who, along with band member Heidi Lenffer, has been holed up in Mushroom Records HQ for most of the day, churning out interview after interview ahead of album number two's release. Drum have snared the last spot in the interview circus for today. Everyone is tired, and everyone just wants to go home, meaning the barriers are relaxed, and the pair spend most of the time answering questions between themselves.“Yeah,” adds Lenffer, “ego isn't always a bad thing.”

The newie, Dream Cave, might not have that 'London' street sound stamped all over it, but Wright and Lenffer sure have embraced London's alt.punk street fashion. The languid Wright, who is all arms and legs, is clad in a vintage Adidas pullover, 'strategically' ripped jeans (“they came like this,” he informs me when asked how he managed to rip them so badly) and a pair of black Doc Martins that he picked up at an op shop in London. Lenffer on the other hand credits her mum with helping her in the fashion stakes: “She likes to take me shopping and buy me things.”

Despite their earlier success, Wright admits that he lost focus of the band's popularity Down Under while recording the second album: “Well… yeah. I mean, I don't sit around wondering how popular we are,” he adds awkwardly, “but it is something you think about, you know, having been overseas for so long.” He needn't have, however, with the group commanding a sell-out performance at the Opera House as part of Sydney's VIVID Festival – a one-off special that saw them debut, Dream Cave, in its entirety.

“I think we did ourselves a service on this [album],” begins Lenffer. “This time around… we tried to write more feel good songs, like party songs.”

Wright agrees, adding: “Yeah, we tried to write songs that we could play at a festival or at a concert and they would all be enjoyable. 'Cause, definitely, there's some that only work in certain situations; they're not really good for everything. But these, you could play anywhere.”

The album's 11 tracks take you on a hypnotic romp through an alt.psychedelic rock universe, set somewhere between 1965 and '68. Despite the overarching Mamas & Papas and Beach Boys-esque sounds weaving their way through the album (specifically on the tambourine-happy Moonrabbit), Lenffer denies the band were reaching for any kind of hippy influences.

“I know it sounds like it, but I wasn't really listening to that kind of stuff at the time.”

“You said you were influenced by Meditation Song? (from their debut, Bliss Release),” Wright interjects.

“Oh yeah,” Lenffer continues, “that's right. I was trying to write a song like one of our old songs. I was also into that Australian band, REM.”

“Wait,” adds Wright, “they're not Australian.”

“Oh right,” apologises a sheepish Lenffer. “Sorry.”

Instead, it appears old habits die hard, with the group relying on caves (which doubled as both influence and recording studio for Bliss Release) to help craft their sound. “Well, we didn't do the whole band set-up in the cave,” Wright corrects. “We just took in some mics and some stuff that we had already recorded and played them back in the cave for reverb.” Lenffer adds: “We actually recorded it in a place called Bear Cave, and it was actually a quarry. Like, when you listen to the album you can hear water dripping. That's all from the cavern.”

The organic, unblemished musical mindset seems to have worked, with Dream Cave showcasing a more assured and mature sound than Cloud Control's debut – the tracks more luscious and layered, with every quirk ironed out to produce a seamless albeit textured moodiness. “We stripped it back this time,” Lenffer reveals. “A lot of the demos were done on laptops, and we extract them from technology to a live setting – and making the songs strong in a live setting was really important to us.”

The pair reveal that the foursome, which includes Lenffer's brother Ulrich on drums and Jeremy Kelshaw on bass, have a remarkably democratic attitude towards their music. And, despite the aforementioned existence of egos, they tend to operate on a greater good philosophy.

“We bring different ideas to the table, don't we?” Wright asks Lenffer.

“You're in the band,” she replies, “you tell me.”

Wright continues: “Well, okay… sometimes we all work together, but a lot of the time it's us bringing a whole bunch of stuff in and ruining it together.”

Lenffer laughs, animatedly adding that “you can also form little alliances in the band. Like, if you think the song should sound 'this way', you can work with someone – almost like a proposal. You might do a drumming session with someone and then come up with a reason as to why the song should sound a certain way. It's almost like negotiating,” she admits, before running her fingers through her hair and sighing, “it's hard… But that said it's as hard as it is easy. We share a similar philosophy rather than a certain sonic vision.”

Wright, who's been listening intently, widens his eyes and coos “Ooooooh!” while Lenffer continues, “Didn't we a while ago… yeah, didn't we try and come up with what we could say was like a foundational idea of the band, and it was 'being excellent to each other.'”

“Well…” begins Wright, “That was actually from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.”

Undeterred, Lenffer continues: “Well, I think we inherited it,” adding (seriously) that, “we took it on as our own,” before the conversation swerves into how “not hot” Keanu Reeves has been looking recently. “Well,” defends a smiling Lenffer, “he's looked good for so long that I think he's allowed to start looking fat and old.”

Excellent.