More Than Paradise

We’re in the middle of something of an electronic music renaissance at the moment, in case you haven’t noticed. There’s always some 17-year-old producer in a Western Sydney or Geelong bedroom, making the kind of music that is fawned over by international tastemakers. But you have to go back a few years to discover what’s fuelling all this, and Luke Dubber (aka Luke Dubs) and Angus Stuart (aka El Gusto), otherwise known as Hermitude, have had their hand in the cookie jar for a while now.

Back in 2012, they released HyperParadise. That mostly instrumental, progressively electronic record was the harbinger for what was to come – it was critically lauded throughout the UK and US, and earned the two a huge worldwide tour. Two years on from that, the job now is to work out what to do next.

Stuart and Dubber are currently mired in songwriting for the new album, but as usual, they’re working on it between tours. They’ve just returned from a bumper follow-up European tour, which also included a stopover to showcase at CMJ in New York. “It was crazy, we realised that we tend to overbook ourselves a bit,” Stuart laughs. “One of the nights, we actually had two shows on the same night. So we just ended up bolting all our equipment down to these huge table on wheels. We played one set, and then wheeled the whole thing out the back door and into the van, moved it down the road to the other venue and wheeled it back in. We had a lot of great moments like that, so I can’t wait to go back.”

The reception they received must be a boon to Dubber and Stuart, especially as they try to follow the huge success of HyperParadise. “We’re right in the depths of the record now, and yeah, we’re trying to work out how it’s going to be different this time around. Not in a completely deliberate way, because you don’t want to put to much pressure in, that can kill any record. But it’s interesting and kinda strange to just see the angles coming out of these songs and how they all tie together. It’s different, for sure, but we know we hit on something with the last album, and I think we want to hold on to what people are expecting just a little bit before throwing some curveballs out there.”

"It’s different, for sure, but we know we hit on something with the last album"

When The Music chats to Stuart, they’re planning the upcoming RÜFÜS tour throughout the US. “It’s gonna be carnage! Fifteen shows, 11 of them are in a row… It’s gonna be a lot of travelling, a lot of playing, a lot of fun, and really most importantly for us, it’s gonna be a chance for us to test out some of the new tracks to a totally different audience than we’re used to.” That will bring them right back around to festival season, with CoLAB FestivaL, Beyond The Valley and a whole lot more on the horizon. Maybe the American crowds will prepare them for the ultimate critics: their friends and family? “Yeah, that’s the plan! Train up before the real test comes.”