Alternative gloom-rock duo Heart Shaped Aces allow us to gain introspect into their influences, challenges and unique recording techniques
If The Smiths’ melodic lyrics had a baby with New Order’s basslines, Heart Shaped Aces would be the result of said pregnancy.
Babies aside, Heart Shaped Aces are ripping up the relatively untapped market of alt-rock indie-goth bands.
With a fresh sound coming straight out of a Sonic Youth playbook, the duo is an incredibly exciting prospect in the Australian music scene.
Hailing from Naarm/Melbourne, the band first met in high school and has since been creating genre-bending tracks with melodic, goth undertones.
We were fortunate enough to share a chat with Oscar and Charlie to discuss all things music, travelling and supporting other artists.
Check out our conversation below and have a listen to their newest self-titled EP.
HAPPY: What are you up to today?
CHARLIE: We’re actually putting vocals on a new song we’re recording at the moment, we’ve set up some gear in my grandma’s house, it’s pretty hectic.
HAPPY: Tell us a little about where you are from? What do you love about it?
CHARLIE: Once you travel around Australia as an adult I think it becomes far easier to pinpoint exactly why you love Melbourne.
It’s the unpolished, imperfect beauty of its cobbled laneways that house the perfect spots to drink and eat with friends.
It’s the vibrant and distinct cultural diversity across its many suburbs. It’s the fact that on any given night there are multiple genres of live music playing somewhere.
It’s so important not to take all that for granted and to be proud of what we have in this city.
HAPPY: Can you talk about how you both met and decided to form The Heart Shaped Aces? What was the initial vision for the band?
OSCAR: Charlie and I met at high school, but didn’t really gravitate towards each other until after we graduated.
Charlie always played music in school – funnily enough in a band that I was a fan of, The Raptures, but I didn’t get into songwriting until I had finished.
After Charlie heard that I was playing music he invited me over to play my stuff for him and the rest is sort of history.
We had quite a special collaborative connection and that was the foundation for the duo.
We came together over a interest in the sonic direction of using a drum machine, inspired by Naarm groups like The Mirrors and HighSchool and more contemporary influences like New Order – we also loved the close harmonies of The Last Shadow Puppets and The Beatles.
I think to be honest we probably introduced ourselves as a little too gothic and I feel like our image now is more of a true reflection of who we are and the playfulness behind the music.
HAPPY: What was the songwriting process like for your debut EP? Did you collaborate closely on each track, or did you have distinct roles?
OSCAR: For this body of work, Charlie wrote and recorded the initial demo for most of the tracks – before presenting them to me.
Charlie is a workhorse when it comes to songwriting and I feel like the closing in on the sonic direction of the Aces from within the demo’s was a really enjoyable part of the EP.
The collaboration sonically really begins in the studio with our producer Ben (Elon) Irawan, where the three of us set at the task of restructuring, re-recording and re-imagining the tunes where necessary.
This process has really helped increase our understanding of the songs especially in a live-sense… we would leave Ben’s studio every time with a new inspiration to take into practice with the backing band.
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HAPPY: Are there any specific artists or genres that have significantly impacted your sound?
CHARLIE: The first wave of bands that made me want to learn guitar and write songs were Britpop groups.
The idea of a grotesquely unapologetic sing-along chorus bares more influence on me than I’d care to admit to (although it’s now apparently en vogue to like oasis).
That will always shape things from a construction standpoint regardless of sonic influence.
But, in terms of our sound at the moment, it’s very much a marriage of 2000s indie rock (The Strokes, Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys) and 80s groups like The Smiths, The Cure and The Blue Nile with some ambient-pop dashes here and there.
Recently I’ve also taken heaps of influence from ‘good’ contemporary pop.
Artists like The 1975 and Billie Eillish are more or less drawing from the great lineage of indie-guitar music and applying it to a modern-pop context.
HAPPY: What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced as a new band, and how have you overcome them?
OSCAR: One of the biggest challenges of being a duo has been having consistent personnel in our live-backing band.
I believe tightness within a band can only really come from practice and time, so when there isn’t consistency in the line-up it can be difficult for the show to be as tight as we would desire.
However, at the moment we have a really strong backing band – and off the back of the tour we are closer than we have been before which is a really nice feeling.
HAPPY: Can you share any memorable moments or experiences from recording your EP? What stands out to you from that process?
CHARLIE: A standout moment would have to be when Elon, our producer properly fleshed out the orchestral arrangement I’d come up with for ‘Doves.’
From the school of guitar based indie-rock music I come from, so to speak, there was something really magical about bringing a strings arrangement to life and seeing it lift that song into the euphoric and confident climax it required.
HAPPY: What advice would you give to other emerging artists trying to make their mark in the music industry?
OSCAR: I don’t know if I am really in the position to be giving advice to anyone to be honest, but if there is anyone who values my opinion here it is.
I feel what I have learned in the time since I got into music is that in order to succeed you have to invest in the scene you want to be apart of.
Go see gigs, support other artists, listen to their music and ask them questions about it when you see them – gaining respect from other’s engaging in the same space you inhabititate is essential to progress, I feel.
I talk to so many aspiring musicians who have high ambitions but little understanding of the Melbourne music landscape – I never really understood this – especially with the amount of talent in the scene right now.
So thats my advice, invest in the scene you want to be a part of.
HAPPY: What’s coming up?
OSCAR: We are on the cusp of completing our East-Coast Tour with our show at Cherry Bar this Saturday the 28th, with two of our favourite local acts – Daisy Picker and UGLIEBOY.
This has been our first ever interstate tour, and selling-out our debut headline in Sydney/Eora felt really special.
Once these shows are finished it is back to the studio with more music for everyone’s ears very soon – including the release of a couple of fan favourites from our live-set.
What makes you happy?
OSCAR: I know this will sound awfully cliche but music makes me genuinely happy. I can sort of summarise the feeling with an experience I had recently, whilst I was solo-travelling in Japan.
I met up with an Australian muso, Vaughan, at the cafe he owns in Tokyo, MIA MIA, to talk all things music, touring and life.
When I walked in the cafe for the first time, the warmth of the place blew me away.
The local restaurant owner was playing Japanese songs on the guitar and cheers were let out by staff as new customers arrived and departed.
Vaughan sort of forced me to play in front of all of the customers, so I played a cover of “Floated By” by Peter Cat Recording Co.
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