Spark It Up

The term 'post-rock' hardly seems to mean anything anymore. Once used to describe dark instrumental guitar music from the likes of Mogwai to Explosions In The Sky, such is the way all genres have splintered off it hardly seems relevant. Sparkspitter agree that the term now feels insufficient to describe what they (or the aforementioned) actually do, but they do say that Adelaide has a scene for this contemplative style of instrumental rock. If anything, they're excited about what used to be called post-rock is evolving into.

“There's been a whole lot of music that we've really loved,” cites vocalist Thomas Capogreco. “My Disco, Battles, Warren Ellis, Steve Reich, Tim Hecker, Thomas Newman, The Necks, Alvo Noto, Octopus Project and Beak, but in more general terms, there has been a sort of ecstatic energy that's started to appear in post-rock, such as on the latest albums from Sigur Ros, Radiohead, Mogwai, Portishead and Explosions In The Sky. But there's also this really bleak, alienated, beauty as per Suuns' debut album and WIXIW, the Liars' latest album.”

Out of that roll call of bands, there are only a select few who use any kind of vocalising to connect with the audience. While it's long been considered that it's a lot harder for bands without a singer to make an immediate connection with listeners, Capogreco says that the band do not subscribe to this ethic.

“We think it's mostly horseshit,” he says flatly. “We're not in a rush to make vocals a focal point for us. We have talked about it, and you might hear more vocals coming from the band in the future – it's just a matter of how, who and when. We have had the opportunity to work with some great visual artists in Adelaide like BIG.DOS and Sam Chisholm, both of whom added immensely to the effect of the music. Reg [Rohan Goldsmith – guitars, guitar loops and drums] tends to feel the pressure up on stage, so I think he enjoys having the visuals up there because it sort of diverts the attention off him a little bit.”

The new single Fearsplishing features an intro track called Proem Aquatic, an exercise in minimal ambience. Capogreco says that he would like to see more of this appear on their new album next year.

“Proem Aquatic is pretty representative of the sort of stuff that was our mainstay when me and Reg were jamming out ideas in the beginning of the band,” he says. “We still love to make that sort of music, but these days it is more of a project-based thing. With any luck we'll record an album over summer, and yeah, we're really looking forward to doing a whole bunch of this sort thing with that.”

Before landing in Brisbane to finish their current tour, the band have been making their way through South-East Asia, playing to audiences that would certainly never get the opportunity to see the kind of music they are making. Capogreco says there have been unexpected challenges.

“We just played a show in Kuala Lumpur with Citizens Of Icecream and a few other really great bands in an art space they set up in the abandoned levels above a shopping mall in Ampang,” he explains. “The police showed up and issued our merch stand with an infringement notice or something. It's different to Australia, music and art is more subversive here. We got to hang out with these guys that just love music and have committed themselves to keeping relevant art and music alive and kicking in a pretty oppressive environment – we've had a really great time here.”