Brisbane producer Adrian Mauro aka Machine Age has come out fighting with the new single from his forthcoming EP.
The single entitled ‘Fighting’ was released in December and is an aptly named electronic piece that lulls the listener into a false sense of security with a deceptively subdued intro that segues into a pounding one-two hit with the main hook.
“The basic musical structure of the song came up when I got to a point where I was trying to finish off a few different songs and I had a week off work so I locked myself in my little room to get it done,” Adrian explains.
“I borrowed some old synths from some friends and I was going to use all these toys to finish off these songs. Then you're playing with new toys and what happens? You get inspired and write new songs.
"So basically I went in there to finish a couple of old songs and ended up coming out with this new one.”
‘Fighting’ is a taste of the forthcoming and as-yet-untitled EP from Adrian producing as Machine Age, the umbrella moniker for all his work. Adrian says the track is a well-proportioned representation of what people can expect from the EP.
“'Fighting’ obviously has a bit of light and shade with real rocky moments then some more ethereal moments and I guess that sums up the way the EP is panning out,” he says.
“I’m actually just excited to get a bigger body of work because one thing I’ve always done with Machine Age is I didn’t want to have parameters or rules of what stylistically I needed to stick to.
“Basically, anything I’m crafting I want to be Machine Age rather than a different project. It's going to be nice to get a few extra songs out there for people to listen to. There's a bunch of different colours, particularly on this EP.”
Initially a solo venture, Adrian has expanded Machine Age into a duo with drummer Dylan Stewart. “Dylan’s been playing with me since January 2017,” Adrian says.
“For the few years leading up to that I’d always played as a solo performer with loop pedals and samplers and the whole thing. I got to that point where it was getting too self-indulgent and I was getting a bit bored.
“Also sonically I wanted to have that extra dynamic shift because a lot of my music has an electronic side to it but there are still the more raucous, rockier elements to it and having a live drummer on stage just takes that stuff to the next level.”
Machine Age is on tour this March, playing an east-coast run. Adrian says the live shows will be a chance to road-test new material. “The live shows are the cornerstone of how it’s become more of a band and less of a recording project,” he says.
“Fortunately the touring side of things has always been a great place for us to test out new material and every time we play in front of audiences they're always intrigued at our approach because we look like a two-piece rock band, but we don’t sound like one and that tends to f#$% with people's heads a bit.”
‘Fighting’ is available now.
Machine Age Tour Dates
Fri 2 Mar - The Milk Factory (Brisbane)Fri 9 Mar - The Perry Black (Melbourne)
Sat 10 Mar - Frankie’s Pizza By The Slice (Sydney)
