A New Scene

Having taste-making Frenchman Joakim pick up one of your first ever tracks to release on his Tigersushi label is not something many can lay claim to, but it was where Perth four-piece Scenic found themselves a couple of years back with single, This Can't Be. The resulting Magician remix found its way into many a wheelspinner's platter, and piqued the interest of Australia's own taste-maker extraordinaires Future Classic, who quickly signed the group. Since then, however, things have been somewhat quiet, with pesky irritations like university getting in the way.

Fortunately for fans of the dreamy disco-pop outfit's smooth tunes, 2013 has seen a return in the single Shockwaves – the title track from their forthcoming EP – and founders Adam Tucker and Eric Harrison are excited to push a new direction in the young outfit's trajectory. “The words 'disco' and 'funk' have been thrown around a lot for [the track] Shockwaves, but the others will probably put a firm end to that,” begins Harrison, “which is sort of what we always had in mind. A bit more alternative rock… Dance-based, [but] not too much disco going about the rest of the tracks.”

It seems they're ready to embrace the more live elements of the group as well, which becomes a four-piece featuring Doug Armstrong and Harrison's younger brother Nick. “We were really focused on making band-orientated music for this EP,” Tucker confirms, “and steering away from electronic influences. But in saying that, I think these new songs will work really well live. I think we're obviously still really influenced by electronic, dancier sort of stuff. I think in the future we'll re-address that.” They're quick to dispel the suggestion they've thrown out their previous pop-leanings altogether, however. “I think we always want to make music that hits the pleasure centres. That'd be the best way to describe our music. You still want to make songs that are pop enough, but you want to be individual enough to make more experimental stuff and take new pathways.”

Offering Air, Sébastien Tellier and the general French Touche scene as reference points, it's the time away from Scenic that has offered them a chance to refocus, so much so that new music is already in the pipeline given Shockwaves has been ready to go for a while now. “I think it's a good thing that we finished it a while ago. Now that it's actually coming to the release date, it's really excited us to make more music. We're more excited now, and we have a clearer picture of the sound we want to be making. We've already written a bunch of stuff, we're getting some material together now and we'll hopefully have another song or two out by end of this year/early next year,” Tucker reckons, before Harrison adds, “We can quietly, confidently say we'll be making our way to the east coast this summer and doing a couple of shows west as well, just getting back on the live bandwagon.”