Everything old is new again – never has that expression been more apt than with Sydney '80s-inspired retrowave/ synthpop duo Vast Hill and their debut album 'More Than You Imagined'.
With all the glitz of quintessential '80s chic, Vast Hill – comprised of partners in music and in life, Elle Kress and Adin Milo – will drop 'More Than You Imagined' in October following the release of 'Heartbreaker' and current single 'Oblivion'.
“I feel it is a little bit of a collection of stuff we've worked on, but then when we've shown people they've said it is quite cohesive with the sound, which is really good to hear,” Elle says of 'More Than You Imagined'.
“A lot of the album Adin actually sings lead vocals, which a lot of people probably aren't going to expect, so we definitely have that boy-girl lead vocal vibe going on in the album, which will be really exciting for people to hear in terms of their response to that.”
Unashamedly embracing their love of the '80s, Elle and Adin temper the neon glow with elements from a range of personal aesthetic influences, be it Wes Anderson movies and Western-style clothing as in the video for 'Heartbreaker' or Japanese karaoke bars as with the video for 'Oblivion'.
“We want to apply that [approach] to every video that we do, if we can; some sort of influence in our life or something that we really love,” Elle says.
“Say for example 'Heartbreaker' – we love Wes Anderson movies and that '60s aesthetic and Western clothing, so we decided to pay homage to that. Then with the 'Oblivion' clip we love Japan, we love that Japanese karaoke bar vibe, and that's where it came from.”
Looking ahead to how the album will be received, Elle says that although she and Adin are nervous about its release, the response to their music so far bodes well for 'More Than You Imagined'. “We got this really lovely, overwhelmingly positive response to 'Heartbreaker' and I was really hesitant with 'Oblivion' because they're quite different singles,” she says.
“When you're releasing something that different, you're throwing something out and people might not expect that. We got such a positive response from 'Oblivion'; we had people messaging us saying they like 'Oblivion' more… there was a lot of love for both of the tracks. That was really awesome to have.”
Since their debut 2015 single 'Will You Love Me In The Rain', Vast Hill have undergone a significant period of development and refinement to be at the point now of releasing a debut, full-length album. “Production-wise we have really stepped it up just with time,” Elle says.
“You get to know the programmes you're working with better and you can create the sounds you actually want to create. That's definitely changed a lot for us; we're able to translate what is in our heads better with our skills now versus when we first started.”
