Released independently with a notable warp back through time from the 80s hooks of their debut to a 60s groove, The Late Blue ushers in a new maturity for the Australian duo.
Their debut album, Gilgamesh did all the right things for Xavier Bacash and Lionel Towers when it was released in 2010.
Seemingly arriving from nowhere, in the one year Gypsy & The Cat not only crossed over from Triple J to the mainstream with songs that characterised the soundtrack of that summer, but toured internationally as one of the country’s premium exports.
What kick-started the development of their second album wasn’t too different to what inspired Gilgamesh as Towers dishes the dirt on lead singer Bacash’s own relationship troubles. “I certainly feel like it motivated the will to get rolling, the fact that Xavier broke up with the same girlfriend again,” laughs Towers.
That ‘same’ girlfriend is reason once more as to why so many people refer to Gilgamesh as a breakup record. “The day we started writing was literally the day that Xavier broke up with his girlfriend again,” says Towers, “so that probably inspired him.” But Towers is quick to point out that The Late Blue is definitely not the breakup album that its predecessor was.
Inspired by more, the duo had spent the past two years touring extensively. The crafting of the album took place at Bacash’s dad’s farm, which as Towers offers, “inspired a lot of what we wrote.”“We probably would have put more 60s influences in the first record, but at the time I think we just kinda went with, I guess, what sorta came to us.”
Why the jump from the affable 80s to the psychedelic 60s? Aside from obviously wanting to do something different from their debut, Towers reveals that they’ve “always loved” the decade. “We probably would have put more 60s influences in the first record, but at the time I think we just kinda went with, I guess, what sorta came to us.”
If you found the influx of 80s nostalgia over the past few years tiring, you don’t have to tell Gypsy & The Cat about it. “We found that after we did the first record, there were just a lot of people trying to copy that style,” explains Towers,“and you know a lot people [were] going for the 80s influenced music.”
Reiterating that they “thought it was time to go back further,” the album demonstrates more growth than just a simple genre change.
As Towers explains it, the recording process of The Late Blue was much more calculated than their debut. “This time we spent a lot more time crafting sounds and listening to all the music and trying to do something a little more different to what we did on the first record.”
It shows, their second effort may still contain the same pop aesthetics as Gilgamesh, but it takes more than just the few initial listens to fully appreciate the sonic dreamscapes on the album.
“That’s definitely intentional,” says Towers, “with the first record, it was too obvious.” The instrumentalist professes that not being predictable was hard and that a lot of time was spent trying achieve something unique.
“We did want to be more mature about it,” confessed Towers. “We wanted to find cooler sounds and hooks that weren’t as obvious but that people would still get.
Lyrically, The Late Blue sees Bacash solely take over the songwriting duties. Towers had previously assisted in the songwriting on some of the tracks on Gilgamesh. But he explains that the duo decided that “since Xavier is the singer and he’s got the message to say, it would probably be more real if he delivered it, if he came up with that message.”“We had gigs lined up in America, we had Coachella which we really wanted to play [and] didn’t end up doing… because no one at the label was essentially giving us the money to go and do it.”
The pair’s sophomore release is undoubtedly more accomplished than their debut, which should put them in good stead as they once again head off overseas in 2013. Towers reveals that the duo are hoping that this album will give them more exposure to international markets.
“It’s weird cause you don’t really know exactly what trends are happening over in various countries, but I guess – fingers crossed – that more people hear this record than the first,” he answers.
International success is now more possible than ever before with 2012 seeing many Australian acts find new audiences across the world. “I think that a lot of people are excited by what is coming out of Australia and I think that now with the internet, Australia has been getting a lot more attention.
Towers believes that “there’s quite a good buzz around Australian music” overseas. “Especially in America and even in South America, there’s a lot of fans coming out of the woodwork,” he offers.
Gypsy & The Cat could have been a bigger name over in the States, but a lack of label support was behind the duo’s move to release their second album independently under their own label, Alsatian Music.
“We had gigs lined up in America, we had Coachella which we really wanted to play and that we were booked for and didn’t end up doing those shows because no one at the label was essentially giving us the money to go and do it,”explains Towers.
Originally signed to Sony UK, unfortunate timing was the first reason behind the difficulties the duo had with the label. The person behind their signing was fired within two months of the deal and then while their replacement ensured support for them, the new managing director was soon fired too.
“Then meanwhile, we had all these things happening and decisions that needed to be made and no one was making the decisions,” explains Towers. “We just found that the system really didn’t work for us.”
Bacash and Towers found a breach in their contract and severed their ways with the label.
Considering the audience base they’ve already attained and the quality of their latest long player there’s little doubting that Gypsy & The Cat won’t just be fine, but will flourish on their own.
The Late Blue is out now through Alsatian Music, read the Tone Deaf review here. Gypsy & The Cat are playing Future Music Festival 2013 in March. Full dates and details here.
