In comparison to Sydney and Melbourne, Australia’s capital city occupies a low profile on the world stage. The same cannot be said for Canberra export, SAFIA.
Fresh from their second, sold-out headline world tour, the indie-electronic-pop trio are back on home soil to launch their debut album ‘Internal’. Discovered in 2013 thanks to Triple J’s Unearthed competition, SAFIA have undeniably penetrated the Australian psyche.
With four of their singles featuring in Triple J’s Hottest 100 the last three years, members Ben Woolner (vocals, keys, samplers), Michael Bell (drums) and Harry Sayers (guitar, keys, samplers) have been riding their success in a non-stop schedule of national and international tours with a few Aussie festival gigs thrown in for good measure. “It feels like we’ve been touring off the back of these singles for the last three years, and it’s all been building up to an album and an album tour,” Ben says.
“It’s going to be so exciting to have ‘Internal’ out in the world. It’s been lingering around for a long time and I’ve listened to it so many times and so I can’t wait for other ears to listen to it and hear what they have to say.”
Released earlier this month, ‘Internal’ provided SAFIA with a chance to explore what Ben describes as their genre-less style. “This is the first chance we’ve had to showcase ourselves as writers and producers and to explore tracks in a non-linear, less standard, outside of the box way. “Obviously we’ve been super lucky with having a lot of successful singles on radio. These songs didn’t have to follow any rules of getting to a chorus or that kind of thing. It’s definitely been a chance to write songs that aren’t necessarily condensed as a single and so we had more time to explore different sounds and different things.”
One need look no further than the album’s opening track, ‘Zion’, for evidence of the band’s experimentation. A blend of rippling beats and indigenous echoes, the song is a surprising introduction, particularly given that it is devoid of Ben’s signature vocals. “Every song is incredibly different and I think the aim for the album was to try and present 12, super-distinct songs,” Ben says.
“If the listener after one or two listens remembers a part or a thing of each song distinctly, that would be a goal achieved. For me it feels like a nice, cohesive journey, but at the same time I think it showcases everything that we are as a band. It’s heavily built on diversity in our songwriting.”Three singles have been released from the album, with the first ‘Embracing Me’ an unintentional inclusion. “I think it was meant to be the second or third [stand-alone] single and we just never put it out for a while. I think out of all the old singles it felt like it sat well in the narrative of the album, and that’s kind of why it made it.”
Tracks ‘Make Them Wheels Roll’ and ‘Over You’ were the second and third singles released off the album. “We knew that ‘Make Them Wheels Roll’ was definitely going to be in there and ‘Over You’ even more so. It was one of the last songs we finished for the album and it was kind of a dark horse. We thought it was a really cool song but when we finished, we were like, ‘Oh, this feels like the next single’.”
The video for 'Over You' was directed by Markus Hofko and filmed in the UK; it is the first SAFIA video not shot and directed on home soil. “All the videos before ‘Over You’ were done by our really good friends from Canberra, Jimmy and Sam from Crux Media. They’ve been super involved in what we do and so we’ve been very involved in the concepts. This video was the first one we’ve done with an overseas label and partner and so it was kind of a new experience.”
Despite SAFIA being less involved in the video, the theme is no less quirky, haunting or curious than its predecessors. “We’re still making sure that the concepts are right for the song and that [the video] is an additional experience rather than just a visual for the sake of being a single.”
Another departure for the band was having ‘Internal’ mixed by US-born producer and musician Eric J Dubowsky, who has mixed the most recent albums for Flume, Flight Facilities and Nick Murphy (Chet Faker). “We were playing around with the idea of having an external person mix it. I think Eric actually came to us before we were about to release ‘Make Them Wheels Roll’ and offered to do [the album] and we were like, ‘Why not?’.
“It was the first time we had someone else be involved in that very last process. Usually it’s all us. We kind of keep it very internal, hence the album name. It was a good experience. He’s a really easy person to work with, he lives in Sydney and he had a lot of good ideas. He did a great job.”
The release of ‘Internal’ will be backed by the band’s biggest national tour to date. “Shows back home are always a lot of fun. The fans here seem to have a great connection to the music and it’s a very collaborative experience I think with the crowd and us.”
The tour will take in some of the most iconic venues in Australia’s live music landscape. “It’s pretty insane thinking that we’re actually going to be playing these venues. That still probably hasn’t fully sunk in. We’ve got to bring a big show to fill these venues. We’re not holding anything back, so putting on a big, visceral experience, hopefully us and the fans can have a special kind of moment.”
Post the ‘Internal’ album tour, SAFIA will finish 2016 as they started it – on the line-up of various Australian music festivals. “We’ll enjoy spending the summer down here and getting to those festivals. It’s going to be fun.”
As for future projects? “We’ll see what happens as we get into next year, but I think right now we’ve got a lot of things to think about.”
Safia Shows
Fri 23 Sep - UC Refectory (Canberra)Sun 2 Oct - Enmore Theatre (Sydney)
Fri 7 Oct - The Tivoli Theatre (Brisbane)
Sat 8 Oct - The Nightquarter (Gold Coast)
Fri 14 Oct - Odeon Theatre (Hobart)
Sat 15 Oct - Festival Hall (Melbourne)
Fri 21 Oct - Metro City (Perth)
Sat 22 Oct - Thebarton Theatre (Adelaide)
Sat 5 Nov - This That Festival (Newcastle)
Thu 17 Nov - The Tivoli Theatre (Brisbane)
Fri 18 Nov - Enmore Theatre (Sydney)
