Just a year and a half on from their last album, Thundamentals are already releasing their next – an introspective and philosophically-reaching fifth full-length record titled 'I Love Songs' (out 21September).
“It's true, I really do love songs,” rapper Tuka laughs.
“It's probably our most vulnerable [album]; everyone says it every time they release a record but this one really is my favourite album I've ever put out, including my solo career.
“There was something effortless about it for me, it came together really quite organically and a lot less contrived.”
Never afraid of expounding their political points-of-view, on 'I Love Songs' Tuka says the object was to focus less on what is wrong with the world and more on finding love among the chaos. “We're not the most political band, but we've been pretty conscious and we've voiced our political views on a lot of things for a long time,” he says.
“That conversation will still continue and we'll still be active in causes we really feel strongly about.
“But the concept of this record came about as a response to there being a lot of negative media and a lot of negative messaging in the planet right now, and we wanted to create a body of work that made people feel good and, furthermore, explaining the interpersonal relationships more than the political or macro problems we have with the world.”
It's no secret the modern world offers enough fear and insecurity to make even the most optimistic humanist throw up their hands in dejected defeat.
Likewise, there's also no shortage of artists offering thinly-veiled and hackneyed observations about the state of the world in the form of song, like a chorus of South Park's Mr Mackey repeating 'racism is bad, mmkay' ad nauseam.
While 'I Love Songs' certainly works to draw out more positive aspects of the current socio-political climate, Tuka says they've equally avoided approaching the theme of love with rose-tinted glasses.
Rather, Thundamentals have positioned love across the spectrum of emotion. “We wanted to focus on a positive project, but that being said there are layers in the project that are quite sad as well,” he says.
“There's a reality about love, that love doesn't equal happiness, does it? It's a duality; it's a holistic feeling that encompasses all your emotions.
“People associate love with only the positive attributes of it, but there's shrapnel in love and there are other things that cause a lot of pain, and you put up with it and sacrifice because of the love. You're not necessarily doing it out of happiness, is what I'm saying; it's a lot more murky than that.”
'I Love Songs' is also Thundamentals most progressive album in terms of the array of genres and styles employed, with Tuka saying they weren't trying to make a hip hop record but simply trying to write songs with no fixed sonic schema in mind.
“What we mean by 'progressive' is we open the record with a house song and we close it with this guitar, African-influenced song,” he says.
“There's Caribbean music in there and R&B; whatever came out, came out and that was it – less contrived. Usually you get halfway through a record and start scratching your head about what does it need and what's missing, but with this album we just let the art and songs come out and this is what it is. This is what we feel like we want to say.”
To date, two singles have been lifted from the album: recent single 'All I See Is Music' and first offering 'I Miss You'.
With the new album coming just 18 months behind their last full-length release 'Everyone We Know', Tuka says it was important to pick a lead single that would epitomise the musical breadth of the album without alienating established listeners.
“We released 'I Miss You' because we felt that it was going to be the closest to the palette of what people are used to us doing,” he says.
“If you think about it in context, we released a record a year-and-a-half ago so for us to put out another record that would be very similar would have been a misstep, and even in our personal lives I think we were ready to show people more of our influences.
“We'll definitely be going back to doing regular, programmed Thundamentals material, that's never going anywhere. Hip hop is in us but for this particular project, releasing so close after our last album, we wanted to show progression and different influences. You've got to keep things interesting for yourself and the audience.” Tuka also says.
'I Love Songs' is a record that allowed he and his bandmates to get some personal grievances off their chests. Though he describes the writing process particularly as 'effortless', he also says it was not without its doubts and pitfalls along the way.
“When I say effortless, it was painful at points because we were talking about real things but usually you sit down and you have a lot of writer's block and you don't know what to do, whereas really early on – I think we were about two songs in – and I knew what the title was.”
Released in the 'decade of the Thundakat' that marks ten years of Thundamentals, the feeling from Tuka is that 'I Love Songs' may be the most significant release for the group so far in their career.
“It felt like 'I Love Songs' was such a double meaning – it being a love story because there's a love story narrative in there that Jesse [Ferris aka Jeswon] and I are talking about,” he says.
“We've been doing this for ten years and what it all boils down to regardless of our political beliefs or whatever, the simple fact is we love music and we love what we do, and in essence that should be enough; you shouldn't have to be anything else.”
'I Love Songs' is released 21 September.
Thundamentals Tour Dates
Sat 10 Nov - Forum MelbourneFri 16 Nov - Spilt Milk Festival (Canberra)
Fri 23 Nov - The Tivoli Theatre (Brisbane)
Fri 30 Nov - The Goods Shed (Hobart)
Sat 1 Dec - Enmore Theatre (Sydney)
Fri 7 Dec - HQ Complex (Adelaide)
Sat 8 Dec - Fremantle Arts Centre
Thundamentals Pop-Up Store & Listening Party Tour Dates
Fri 7 Sep - The West Oak Hotel (Adelaide)Wed 12 Sep - Paradise Alley (Melbourne)
Thu 13 Sep - Rosemount Beergarden (Perth)
Fri 14 Sep - Cambridge Front Bar (Newcastle)
Thu 20 Sep - Lady Hampshire (Sydney)
