London-based indie pop band Superorganism has had a couple of very busy years. After their self-titled debut album, Superorganism, tore through the charts in 2018, the band has been pretty much touring the globe nonstop.
Superorganism returns with their second album, World Wide Pop (Domino). Brimming with the kind of pop music and deadpan humour that is earning them comparisons to a much an edgier and darker S Club 7 or if Wetleg and the Flaming Lips had an optimistic baby, this is what you might get.
The band has spent the last couple of years globe-hopping but has found time in between airports to record a brand new album with a few newfound friends, Gen Hoshino, Chai, Pi Ja Ma, Axel Concato, Stephen Malkmus, and Dylan Cartridge.
World Wide Pop opens with the banger Black hole baby, which takes you on a journey through space and time, and energetically leads you through the album as the band champions friendship, interconnectedness, and the belief in the power of pop music.
Filling the space in between the notes with all the madness of the universe, World Wide Pop is a healthy dose of neo-psychedelic pop music at its best.
We caught up with Orono, Harry, and Soul when they dropped into Sydney and talked about catching a break when you can, golfing and a few other surprising things.
Happy: You guys have literally just flown in from Japan, is that where you are based at the moment?
Harry: No, but we were kind of living together for a while in London. Well, all of us, apart from Soul, but it just got too much, so we’re all kind of spread out again.
Happy:: Where are you based now?
Orono: Anywhere, right here.
Harry: London.
Happy: What do you love about where you live?
Harry: I’m in North London. I’m in a part of the city called Crouch Hill. There’s this amazing walk called the Parkland Walk, and it goes along an old abandoned railway track, and you suddenly don’t realise that it’s quite a dense part of town. And then yeah, you just walk off the side and then there’s this amazing park and walk, and it goes up this beautiful track. There’s all these birds and it’s really beautiful. And there’s all these great pubs along the way. So I basically spend my Saturdays and my days off just, like, walking along that with my mates, just like, drinking. It’s great.
Soul: I actually live pretty close to Harry, just up the road, so yeah, I have experience in that part of the North. I used to do, like, a run through it that kind of leads you to one way that you go to Priory Park, and the other you can go all the way to Alexandria Palace, which is like an extraordinary building itself. So, yeah, pretty spoiled for the amount of green you get in London, which is what we all love about it.
Happy: Sounds incredible.
Harry: Go for walks and listen to ideas that I’ve had and trying to think of new stuff. I always find that walking and just getting fresh air is really really good for just workflow and creativity and stuff.
Happy: Describe your average work day?
Orono: Get on a plane, get out, go to a hotel for 30 minutes, come here, talk to some people, play some songs, do the same thing over and over again for two years straight.
Happy: You sound exhausted. Are you jet lagged at all?
Orono: I’m just so tired, especially the past week, so I’m just pretty tired and have no idea what’s going on.
Happy: You guys are still touring in September?
Harry: Yeah. So we are not going to be able to catch a break until we get a break!
Soul: We get a break after Australia.
Harry: Then we’re back out for two months.
Happy: Wow! What about your ultimate day?
Soul: I’ve been getting into golf recently, so I think on the golf course, on a beautiful sunny day, which happens to be in Australia, the golf courses are really nice and quite affordable. So yes, in Australia, sunny day. Hitting the ball around for me.
Harry: That sounds really nice. I want to do that. I want to try out your ultimate day.
Soul: Even if you can’t if you don’t play golf. I think it’s nice because it’s just so beautiful around the courses.
Happy: There are some beautiful courses. We’ve got a local golf course in the Inner West, and it’s kind of a shared public space / golf course, but there are always golfers.
Soul: So like, does anything happen on your walk? Are you in danger of getting hit?
Happy: Well, they set it up in such a way that the walkway is right on the edge of the water, and they have the golfers hitting away from the water.
Soul: Okay, but I would probably hit the people because I’m slicing right. Haha.
Happy: Can you tell us a bit about your creative community?
Harry: I guess that we are our creative community in a lot of ways. There are five of us in the band, and we end up working with other people as well a lot. And so it’s just kind of just quite an open vibe. And Orono worked on the artwork for the record.
We worked on the music videos with this great guy who lives in Berlin who helped us realize the vision of all that as well. So a lot of the time, obviously, throughout covid that was done remotely, but it’s good to now be kind of back in person a lot more.
Happy: What did you kind of read or watch growing up that pushed your passion for music?
Orono: Ren and Stimpy.
Harry: Wasn’t expecting that!
Orono: My dad had some VHS tapes that he had. And well, I just got tired of watching School of Rock over and over again, even though that’s the actual truth. But I did watch a lot of Ren and Stimpy as well.
Soul: Ren and Stimpy had a darkness to it. It’s super dark. It’s kind of creepy. I remember being kind of creeped out.
Happy: (Soul is starting to look slightly traumatized) We haven’t watched it recently, maybe it’s time to check it out again.
Soul: I don’t know if I advised myself too young or something, but I also think there was a Ren and Stimpy uncensored part. I was like nine, and was probably thinking what is this?
Harry: Haha.
Happy: We have a couple more quick questions for you: Pineapple on Pizza?
Harry: No
Soul: No
Orono: Sure
Happy: Rollerskates or rollerblades?
Orono: Blades
Harry: I’ll say skates, I’m actually too afraid of both, to break my ankles or whatever.
Soul: I’m a blader.
Happy: What makes you happy?
Harry: Whoa profound…. a good meal and a good show make me happy.
Soul: A good cup of Coffee.
Orono: Sleeping.
Happy: Thanks for dropping past guys, we hope you have a well-deserved restorative break before your upcoming European tour.
World Wide Pop is out now, check out Superorganism’s upcoming European tour here.