If you're looking for mischief, looks like you've come to the right place.
Vocalists Chevonne Nel, Eesha Hunjon and Rachael Steel make up Mischief, an independent, all-girl singing group who've just released their debut EP, 'Oblivion'. “We are so excited,” Chevonne says of the record's release.
“It's been so much of a journey and hard work to get to this point and we could not be more excited because it's something we wanted to happen so long ago and it's finally happening. It's like our baby, it's like giving birth to a music baby. It's wonderful.”
While the halcyon days of girl groups dominating the charts are well-passed, Mischief have found their niche with a sound that incorporates elements of pop and EDM into an upbeat, energetic blend.
“Justin Bieber released his singles, which were so EDM and pop combined and it completely changed the music scene,” Chevonne says.
“Most artists are putting together EPs with pop and EDM combined and I feel like that's such an awesome, cool sound. We heard that and we felt we had to get on board because we wanted to be silky but very pop and fun.
“We wanted to have music that everyone could listen to and feel happy and dance to while they're getting ready to go out. Nothing too out there, just something that's really fun; that's our sound. We don't take ourselves very seriously, that's for sure,” she laughs.
'Oblivion' features Mischief's electrified version of Natalie Imbruglia's 1997 smash-hit song 'Torn', which Chevonne says was selected because of its potential to be adapted to the band's chosen sound and style.
“We thought 'what is the song that's the most acoustic-based and different to EDM?'. Something that if we did put a bit of an EDM twist on it would sound very different and we could make it into our own. We didn't want to remake a song sounding very similar, just with our voices.
“Because we're changing it to an EDM-pop vibe making it more fast-paced and energetic, we still wanted to keep that emotion and that rawness in the song because we didn't want to lose that. I feel like we did a good job of keeping that. It's still something that people can really connect to and not get lost with the music.”
The hard work Mischief have invested to become a successful, independent music enterprise paid off last year when they were announced as overall winners at the 2016 Australian Independent Music Awards. “I still can't believe that,” Chevonne beams with delight.
“I think we were the loudest in the whole room, we were screaming like literal five-year-old school girls. It's a bad thing to look back on, but it was the best and most amazing feeling ever. We didn't go there at all expecting we were going to win... It's the last thing we thought was going to happen, especially in the pop category.
“It concreted [sic] the fact it was worth it. It was something that definitely motivated us to push even harder, which we have with the EP. We're pushing even harder now because we feel it's definitely viable and something that can happen.”
The 'Oblivion' EP is available 2 June.
