Art vs Science coasted into the scene with what they call “beginner’s luck” (they did book their first gig before writing any songs).
Reminiscing on the old days, Dan Mac (who accounts for one third of the band’s members), is astounded at how easy it was. “Each song had just one idea. Maybe we’ve started over-complicating things. But that’s what we find interesting now.”
And it’s not just their new album ('Off The End Of The Earth And Into Forever, Forever' out 9 Oct) that’s undergone the over-complexity treatment. A lot of their older songs are still evolving, with previously hidden intricacies emerging each time they’re played. “I remember a few years ago, we’d come back from a long break and when we first started playing again we were doing all the old tricks. I felt like we were playing in a cover band of ourselves. It was really weird.
“But we’ve spent so much time getting back on track, I feel like we own the songs again. Like ‘Parlez-Vous Francais’. For a while I felt like I didn’t even know it. But today I was playing it and I was like, ‘yeah, this is my song. Go 25-year-old me’.”
With its epic mime-battle film-clip, brain-sticky lyrics and solid innings on Triple J, ‘Parlez-Vous Francais’ is one of the band’s most memorable tracks. “When we first started playing it, we asked every French person we found if the grammar was right. And they were always like ‘yeah, it’s really cool’. But then we played it in Paris and they were like ‘what the fuck? Are you mocking us?’
“I think it must sound confusing. Like if a French person was singing ‘Do. You. Speak. English. Steak and chips and driving fast.' I think it just doesn’t make actual sense in French.”
Apart from confusing French people, Art vs Science have a variety of extra-curricular pursuits. “We built our own hypnotron for ‘Creature Of The Night’. We love doing stuff like that.”
And, with a variety of individual artistic pursuits as well, the boys try to keep themselves in a constant, inspiration-feeding cycle. “I started DJing last year and it’s been an amazing leveller of creative energies. I‘d just come back from Berlin with the techno bug and was like ‘Art vs Science has to be a techno band now’. The others were like ‘what? We can’t be a techno band.' But I was determined: ‘yes, this is definitely happening’. Of course I eventually realised we can’t do techno.”
Instead of forcing themselves into the ill-fitting guise of a techno band, Art vs Science decided to stick with their distinctive, quirky tunes and focus on the over-complification mentioned earlier.
Dan’s description of ‘Tired Of Pretending’ (the debut single from the ‘Off The Edge...' album), confirms they have progressed from their old, one-idea-per-song standard. “The song slips from my frustration with going out in Sydney into this spiritual experience I had, completely sober, beside a river in Perth.
“I couldn’t sleep so I went walking while the stars were still out. Something tripped. The sun started coming up and I saw it was just a star like all the others I’d been looking at. Little splashes in the river formed perfect circles and I saw mathematics working in there. It was completely euphoric. I was crying. It was really weird.
“After our show that night, I got drunk, like I do at a lot of shows. And I had a one-night stand. The song’s like a stream of consciousness for the whole thing. At the start, I’m sick of the superficial nightlife and then I go deeper but I still go back to the superficial nightlife because if I’m lonely that’s kind of the only way to meet people.”
While the song slides into a paradox, the experience at its core is no less profound. And, though the real-life trip was sober, Dan’s voice curls with a smile when asked about the reference to mushy tripping and tree conversations in the song. “You always end up talking to a tree, don’t you? They’re just so expressive. Their leaves and twigs always look like they’re saying something.”
Art vs Science headline Valley Fiesta 2015 23-25 October. The band also play Falls Festival (Lorne 28 Dec; Marion Bay 29 Dec; Byron Bay 31 Dec) and Southbound 8 January, 2016. 'Off The Edge Of The Earth And Into Forever, Forever' album is released 9 October.
