Advance Stream: Tales In Space

Sydney two piece Tales In Space are an explosive collage of electro-dynamo-pomo-disco rock. Their sound can be described as a hybrid of electronic infused samples, loops, radios, keyboards as well as straight up meat n’ two veg style drum and guitar.

The duo aka Luke Bert and Simon Widauer are about to release their debut LP Formula though MGM (out June 6th), to celebrate Synth player/ guitarist Luke has given us a track by tack run down of the record.

In A Million Places At Once

“This song first came about when deciding what would be a cool riff to whistle while in the shower. That was the birth of the guitar riff. Lyrically the song is about having the ability to be ‘electric’ but only if you switch yourself on. Basically about procrastination which I’m sure we’re all guilty of from time to time.”

All Messed Up

“This was definitely one of the most fun tracks to make. It was written and recorded instantly and flowed straight out within a few hours. We ended up keeping most of the demo and just re-recorded the vocals and a few guitars.”

Pushing And Pulling

“The original guitar riff and vocal for this was written in one go at home by plugging the guitar into an FX pedal and straight into the computer. This is sacrilege in the recording world. The vocals were then later tweaked lyrically and re-recorded but the guitar riff is still the original version.”

Formula

“Definitely the bands favourite track on the album. I think this is because we didn’t try to make it into anything. It just made itself. The demo for this was very bare. While listening it had to be interpreted with big ‘arms stretched out’ body movements. We then replaced them with actual audio for the chorus and made it ‘explosive’ and ‘arms stretched out’ sounding.”

Shades

“This is the first single of the album and definitely one of our favourites. We feel like the lyrics and music came together like two coffee granules in a pod. The drums from this song are actually taken from a song off our first EP. Not sure if that was being lazy or just a money saver. Haha. It was actually just a way of writing the song but then decided to keep them.”

Grow Up Together

“This is probably the only song on the album that went through the painful process of re-recording and scrapping, changing lyrics, recording again. I think in the end we were happy with the way it turned out. It’s like an entirely new song from where it first started.”

Starwars

“This song is the only instrumental on the record. After feeling worn out from writing and recording the other songs, we decided to take a break from our normal process and began messing around for a bit of fun and within a couple hours this was the result. It’s almost like the half time intermission song on the record.”

Holidaze

“Definitely another favourite. I think we really channelled some blur and old school vibes in this tune. The riff was just a cheesy idea that was so cheesy that could potentially be used in a cool way. Not sure if we pulled it off but either way cheese is cool. Also for the muso’s out there, every chord in this song is a major chord which is quite unusual and gives it that slightly quirky character as oppose to your common happy or sad ‘textbook’ chord selection.”

Talk It Out

This was the hardest song on the album to finish. We went through so many production changes to try to get it to sit right. I think this was the biggest challenge in making a record ourselves. We were really keen to get this one on the record. We had a friend, Bart who also plays drums with us, help us with some ideas like the ascending vocals into the first chorus.

Tangled In Angles

This song was just an idea we had floating around and though we’d have some fun with it. The end was inspired by the freedom of music and art. Although some may find the end of the song a bit random, we believe it was essential to telling a real diverse musical story.

Time Machine

“The old ‘wind down the album’ song. This song pretty much sums itself up. Wanting to turn back time to try something different. Some people may find this Thom York inspired and, well, it is and we’re proud of that as he and Radiohead are a huge influence on our musical lives. This also uses the classic Juno keyboard. One of our favourite synths.”

Tales in Space National Tour

Advance Stream: Tales In Space – ‘Formula’