Better known as the frontman of Swedish indie dance trio Miike Snow, Andrew Wyatt has recently ventured out on his own with a self-titled side project. His solo debut, Descender, sheds light on another side of the mastermind’s multi-talented musical brain.

Taking the call fresh from his first live performance as a solo artist, Wyatt is enjoying some rare downtime in his hectic schedule. “I’m in New York at the moment. I’ve just been chilling out after playing Descender at Downtown Festival,” says the humble New York local, where he played alongside fellow top billers Earl Sweatshirt and Purity Ring.

“It was the first show so there was always going to be a few kinks to sort out, but it went really well. We have to sort out some things like the lighting which can really have an impact on the performance,” he says, revealing his inner perfectionist as he meticulously pinpoints and scrutinises different aspects of his inaugural live show.

“It’s not quite like a Miike Snow show,” he admits. “I’m used to playing festivals with these bigger crowds, and I want to jump down and work with the audience and get into it and be all, ‘ra ra ra’, but this is a little tamer so I can’t really do that. With this record, a little bit of that works but it’s a completely different performance.”

The record itself is the most introspective Wyatt has ever appeared. The Grammy-nominated producer’s lone musical outlet allowed him to “go unchecked into a different territory I might not have wanted to go in with Miike Snow.” As such, it branches away from their banging boiler room anthems, and instead, the electronic soundscapes etched on his debut solo album are distinctly slowed down, intricate and visceral.

“I felt like if I was going to do something that wasn’t Miike Snow, I’d do something completely different,” he explains. “Miike Snow is more of a collaboration and it’s really the result of three of us coming together with our own inputs to create something, whereas Descender’s vision is more idiosyncratic.” “Miike Snow is more of a collaboration and it’s really the result of three of us coming together… whereas Descender’s vision is more idiosyncratic.”

“It’s a different aesthetic, for sure. I’d definitely say there’s a certain amount of darkness on this record. Some of it’s darker and more introverted, but some of it’s also good fun and has a sense of humour. In that sense, there are some similarities with Miike Snow, but I think it involves a slightly longer attention span,” he punctutates with a laugh when explaining the strange balancing act between his group and solo commitments.

There is, as Wyatt rightly puts it, a sense of “cross-over” between the two projects. Whilst Descender taps into the deeper crevices of Wyatt’s life, it is still illuminated by the frontman’s inherent pop sensibility.

After all, this is a man who has written for the likes of Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson, so it comes as no surprise the music released under his own name is still wrapped in an infectious, glossy pop finish.

The most notable aspect of Descender is that it was created with the backing of the 75-piece Prague Philharmonic Orchestra who provide the grandiose instrumentals for Wyatt’s standout vocal work. For Wyatt, enlisting the support of a chamber orchestra to realise his vision was an elaborate prospect he had been drawn towards for years and was “kind of like a dream to do.”

“Some of my favourite records growing up were things like Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, and Brazilian music, where the recording process was just about people playing a room with a singer. I really love that approach.”

“Also, no-one’s doing it at the moment,” he adds. “Everyone’s using computerised strings, and I haven’t seen anyone properly harness something like a real orchestra in quite a while. I feel like if I did it well it would definitely be unique.” “I never knew [Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories] was made that way until mine was already done so we must’ve been thinking along the same lines…”

As with almost every music-related conversation in the last month, Wyatt’s fast-paced musings eventually drift over to Daft Punk’s latest, Random Access Memories.

“Daft Punk also went back to 70s techniques in working with Giorgio Moroder and using organic arrangements,” Wyatt reels, “I never knew their record was made that way until mine was already done, so we must’ve been thinking along the same lines. I think there was a similar feeling in their mind and my mind.”

“Daft Punk – in a much, much greater way than Miike Snow – have become responsible for a genre of electro that has become majorly pop, whereas I think Miike Snow has been a big contributor to indie music inspired by dance music,” Wyatt responds when prompted on the similarities between the two groups.

Wyatt last touched down in Australia a little over a year ago with Miike Snow for last year’s Splendour In The Grass, but it’s the New Yorker’s first performance in the country in 2010 at the same festival that he seems to remember more vividly.

“We played Splendour in 2010, it was our first show in Australia and we thought no-one knew us. We played at 2 o’clock, so we went at around noon to see the band that was on before us and there were around 45 people watching,” he recalls. “So we thought there’d be around 250 people when we played, and some people might know it, some wouldn’t. We literally thought, ‘Oh well, we’ve been put where the unpopular bands go.’”

“But when we went out there were thousands of people and just about everyone knew every word,” recalls the Miike Snow turned solo musician. “It was crazy. Australian audiences are quite up for it.”

In terms of bringing his new solo moniker to our shores, Wyatt isn’t quite sure about the logistics. “If I could bring Descender to you, I’d love to. There’s probably a way to do it but I’d have to slim down the orchestra quite a lot.”

“If there’s demand I’d definitely love to come down. I love playing in Australia, I really do.” With manners like that, it’s a request that would no doubt be accepted.

Descender is out now through Downtown Records/PIAS Australia.

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