Go Go Gadget

“Maybe you can put the call out to the Perth public – if you rock up with a pre-1990s television under your arm, you'll get free entry into our show,” says Pluto Jonze. While it might seem like an odd request coming from a musician, for the Sydney singer-songwriter, it's all just part of the multimedia experience that is his live shows. “We will have at least one TV in Perth but that's only because these old units are so hard to fly with.” As part of his shows, he uses them to screen psychedelic visualisations which coordinate with the songs, pre-recorded voice loops and samples throughout the set. It's an impressive feat to pull off and one that Jonze has so far done with aplomb, earning him massive praise from fans and media alike.

Now, with the release of his debut album Eject, he's bringing the show to Perth for the first time ever and, as an added bonus, he's bringing along a few new toys on this tour. “I've got a little bit of new kooky gadgetry,” he says. “I'm going to run a Theremin through a talk box which is normally used for guitars. I've been experimenting with that and it's going to be a big feature of the show. I guess I've always loved gadgets and just kind of out of date technology. There's something kind of romantic or sad or just awesome about it. I particularly like that era of '60s, '70s and '80s-style televisions because it does give a sense there's some sort of magic happening in this box. With those old pieces of technology, it really did give the sense that the actual piece of technology itself had a personality and you were looking into another world with those old TVs – or it does to me anyway. I just love those old gadgets, I'm a big fiend for that and I can't really explain why; call it a fetish if you will, but I just love it.”

Jonze produced, mixed, played, sang and engineered the whole album by himself while holed up in his little Redfern terrace in Sydney. The infectious and hook-laden song from which the album takes its name has received massive airplay and is sure to be a highlight of the set. “I definitely wasn't writing the track for commercial purposes or for anyone but myself, really,” he says. “I remember enjoying and feeling like I was onto something new, but at the same time like it was a bit of throwaway track or something like that. I'm surprised that it's had its success because it's kind of bizarre – the song, I mean. It did kind of reflect the way I was feeling at a certain time and probably the way a lot of people feel; like they're 'tangled like a broken cassette' and a lot of people want to get out. I'm really happy that that's the song that has really connected most with people, because that really feels like it's a real extension of my personality, my humour and just the way I look at life. I did feel like the word kind of encapsulated a bit of the ethos of the album. The underlying current of a lot of the songs have a certain escapist quality to them. Maybe adventurous or explorative might be a better way of putting it. This idea of ejecting and getting to another place was something that was kind of a recurrent theme behind the songs and that's the frame of mind I want people to be in when they want to put on this album.”