Perth electro-punk duo Black Stone From The Sun have released their long-awaited self-titled debut album 'Dreamalysis'.
It's the full-length follow-up to their 2015 sophomore EP 'Death Threats & Cigarettes' and drummer Jack Nelson says he and bandmate, guitarist Sean Mackay, are keen to finally have it out. “It's been a long work in progress,” Jack says of the album.
“We started it almost two years ago for the first song to be recorded, we put the song up straight away then sat on it for a few months and started writing the rest of the songs to suit that one. That did fairly well on radio around the country and it's all coming together now.”
For 'Dreamalysis', Jack says he and Sean aimed to produce a much more well-rounded sound compared to previous releases, with Sean writing more considered lyrics.
“We've gone for a fuller sound now,” he says, “so all the other releases have pretty much been live takes where it's just drums, guitar and vocals with maybe an extra guitar to thicken the sound.
“We've gone pretty in-depth with the studio time we had and we've got organ sounds in there, keys, gang vocals with a bunch of other people singing.
“Sean is going into darker territory lyrically as well so it's a bit more real than a bunch of words thrown down, which he's done in the past. It's the first, real release we've made where the songs flow and connect together rather than having a random list of unrelated tracks.”
In creating a bigger sound for 'Dreamalysis', Sean has remained staunchly against bringing a bass guitar into the instrumentation, preferring to keep it a strictly guitar and drums affair.
“Even though we've got a fuller sound, there's still no bass on the album so Sean is trying to get as low a sound from his guitar as he can. He's pretty adamant about no bass; it's like a no-bass-rule band,” Jack says.
'Dreamalysis' marks a peak in the evolution of Black Stone From The Sun's sound that has been underway since releasing 'Death Threats & Cigarettes'. Jack says an integral of their development has been their producer, Mitch McDonald from The Love Junkies.
“We've been working with Mitch since the last EP and we've put out three singles between then and the album, so we've been working with him for a few years now and honestly every time we work with him it just gets better, you can hear it in the sound as well… He's not one of those guys who just hits record, he definitely likes to have input.”
Black Stone From The Sun will embark on their album tour for 'Dreamalysis' throughout May and Jack says he and Sean like to take a slightly laid-back approach to live shows.
“It's pretty on the spot,” he says. “We don't play to a setlist as such, we usually see what the area's like and either start with a super-heavy song or one that's just in the middle, and then see the reaction and go from there, talk to each other about what to do. At the end of the day it's going to be loud and we'll be sweating buckets afterwards.”
'Dreamalysis' is available now.
Black Stone From The Sun Tour 2018
Wed 2 May - Crown & Anchor (Adelaide)Thu 3 May - Last Chance Rock N' Roll Bar (Melbourne)
Fri 4 May - The Yarra Hotel (Melbourne)
Thu 10 May - Parkwood Tavern (Gold Coast)
Fri 11 May - Prince Of Wales Hotel (Brisbane)
Sat 12 May - Waywards (Sydney)
Sat 23 June - Badlands Bar (Perth)
