The instrumental Perth band Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving have a new record on the way.
Two years since their last releases: 'Yield To Despair' (April, 2015) and follow up EP 'Black Captain' (October, 2015), band member Luke Pollard discusses the upcoming new material.
“We’re going to be playing a new song called ‘The Alarmist’ [at the Perth launch show], which is a bit shorter and faster than what was on 'Yield...' - around the five to seven-minute mark. It’s still quite heavy but gets to the point quicker.
“We played a workshop version of it earlier in the year when we were on tour with Boris. It turned out great, so we’re looking forward to playing that.”
Fans can expect some older material to be played on the night as well; tracks from their first album 'Deaden The Fields' will be heard live for the first time in years. “We have to try and re-learn them because we’ve gotten a new guitarist since then.
“This is definitely his first time playing some of the old material. The stuff from ['Yield To Despair'] has that dark, dreamy element to it, so it’ll be mixed in with the post-rock stuff from earlier on.”
The addition of older material to the setlist will mean more instruments and gear, resulting in less stage space.
Luke reflects on times this has been a slight problem. “There were times, especially at a gig at Crowbar [in Brisbane], when we were literally shoulder-to-shoulder trying not to hit each other in the head.
"It can get pretty tight up there [on stage]. At least at Badlands it’s a pretty wide space, so we should be good!”
The band are known for adding improv elements to their live shows, which are described as ‘intense’. Luke elaborates on why this is. “Playing the songs live brings out this extra emotional element. The improv really gets driven by Ron [keyboard] and Ben [drummer] and it really drives the intensity up.
“We don’t want to get up and bang out the song and hope they sound the same, it’s about trying to see what will come out of the dynamic on night – for it to feel a bit different and mix it up.”
One way the band does this is through the noise samples they’ve collected that are regularly heard in their music. “There’s definitely some [noise] on the new record. A few hundred metres from the studio there’s a train line that goes south.
"At night it’s this huge, spooky noise, so we got that to use. We love incorporating these weird sounds into the mix – and not just for our records. We have them with us for live shows on our samplers or loop pedals; we can just bring them in when we want to and add extra texture to the mix.”
Luke says the coming album is close to completion and discusses the band’s hopes for 2018. “We’ll be looking to definitely do another Australian tour.
"Then maybe back over to Europe; we’re even talking to some people about going to China for the first time. It should be pretty busy in the first half of next year.”
