GRRL PAL’s paradisal world of synth heavy, beat laden electro pop has been bubbling on our radar for some time. A duo from Perth consisting of producer Danny K and vocalist Jay LeKat responsible for a delectable array of textured, sophisticated and dream filled pop, you can understand our excitement when they set out to release one song a month on Soundcloud for the duration of 2015. It’s with even more excitement we get to share Vice with you, a perfect audio distraction for the day.
The lush beats of Danny K and Jay LeKat are back with the new GRRL PAL track Vice. Rich in synths and slightly ominous, it’s another ace for the Perth duo.
The song itself began to take shape on a drive down to Albany from Perth whilst en route to play a show, according to Danny; “Since then it went through multiple version changes. It’s been called V7V2 mix 3 for ages, as in second version of version 7 third mix!” Adds LeKat “It started off more like a ballad, then Danny changed the beat and its vibe completely changed”.
Whatever mutations or evolutions the song took, the current and hopefully final incarnation creates a surreal feeling with an interesting mix of oriental and tribal influences. Imagine if you will an encounter with a Japanese electronics store for the first time, becoming too overwhelmed and then freak dancing your way out of the building. Music is about personal discovery right?
Sticking with the independent ethos, the duo recorded in house, literally. “We recorded it in Danny’s little black drum room under the house, he’s kind of converted into a little recording space for us”. Seems like a perfect place to bring out the inner mad scientist as the band experiment with analog synths and a multitude of drum samples and the odd field recording.
Listening to Vice it provides a very cinematic feel, like we are on the verge of discovering something with a slightly ominous undertow, it turns out they were going for exactly that. “We really wanted it to sound dark and to set a scene, when I was finishing it there was a massive thunderstorm happening in the background!”
If we continue with our love of pop with a darker setting, which we will, lyrically speaking the band were looking to push further according to Danny, “VICE was written about all of that good or bad advice that you choose to follow or not to follow, those moments where you probably should have listened.”
For a band that formed in 2013, has already supported the likes of Miami Horror, The Jungle Giants and Clubfeet, and has enough ambition to release a song for every month of 2015, well this is one of those times where you probably should listen. Embrace the rhythm!
