An interview with Aussie act San Cisco about their upcoming third album

Australian indie pop quartet San Cisco are now busy working on their upcoming third studio album, set to be released later this year.

They already gave us a taste of this new project by ending 2016 with the release of a double single “SloMo / B Side.” Both tracks got a video treatment and our attention too. We decided to reach the four pals of Fremantle (Western Australia) to ask them a few questions about this forthcoming project.

“SloMo” is an instant indie pop gem which, by the way, reminds a bit of Michael Jackson‘s “Thriller” (I’m sure you also heard some elements that bring the two songs together). It goes with a Matt Sav-directed quirky video that perfectly fits the atmosphere of this lead single. About “SloMo”, singer Jordi Davieson said that it was the first song they wrote as a band after “Gracetown.” They wanted to create a song that made people want to move. A successful bet even if the aptly named “B Side” might the real standout of this release, in our opinion.

In order to go further into the band universe, our Aussie contributor Ed Ledsham asked them a few questions. Check our interview with San Cisco below!

You’ve described yourself as playing “pop with rock instruments”, what does ‘pop’ mean to you?

We listen to a lot of pop music ourselves so I guess all of the pop arrangements and melodies tend to show up in our music fairly easily. I wouldn’t say we actively try to make pop music but it certainly is something we love 🙂

Who’s making the best ‘pop’ music at the moment?

There’s a guy who lives around the corner from us called Kevin Parker. I would say he is one of the most respected figures in music at the moment. He is working with a lot of big names in the world of pop.

San Cisco SloMo B-Side matt sav

Your music very much reminds of British indie pop from the mid-2000s, were those bands particularly influential for you?

Yeah maybe we have been influenced subconsciously. What we are influenced by is always changing so it’s kinda hard to pinpoint any single influence. We love a lot of the stuff Damon Albarn had anything to do with like Gorillaz and Blur.

For our mostly European readership, what’s the music scene like in Fremantle and Western Australia in general?

Perth has a great music scene, lots of great bands and venues for them to play in. There’s pretty much something going on every night, whether its local bands or DJ’s. Everyone kind of is inspired by each other to do stuff which I would say is a good healthy competition.

Are there any Australian bands that Europeans really should know but don’t seem to?

I’m not really sure which Australian Bands Europeans would know about. Client Liaison are a very cool dance band from Melbourne who are up to cool stuff at the moment. We always love The Preatures who are supposed to be putting a new record out soon. Also Perth band Methyl Ethel are sick as well!

New singles ‘B-Side’ and ‘Slo-mo’ almost sound like two quite different bands. What can we expect from the new album?

We have always had quite a varying range of styles in our music which I would say comes from the diverse range of music we listen to. The new record is similarly diverse I guess but I suppose you’ll just have to wait and have a listen for yourself! 🙂

Do you have plans to play any European shows anytime soon?

At the moment we are really just concentrating on the new record, trying to get that finished. So we don’t really have any shows coming up. But I do think that once the record is complete we will be on a plane to come and play some shows in the EU real soon!

You’ve done some pretty diverse covers (Courtney Barnett, Taylor Swift, Daft Punk) are there any plans to do more covers like this in your upcoming sets?

To be honest, we really only ever do covers when we are asked to so I’m not sure we would ever add one to the set to play live. That said, we do enjoy interpreting people’s songs our own way.

You were number 12 in, Australian radio behemoth, Triple J‘s, “best discoveries from Unearthed”. How did that feel?

Feels great! It always feels good to have recognition from the home base and Triple J have had a lot to do with that, always plugging our shows and getting behind new releases.

Connect with San Cisco via their official website and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Questions by Ed Ledsham; answers by San Cisco‘s Josh Biondillo

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