They’ve released some pretty dope tunes over the past few years, but The High Learys don’t want to let us get too comfortable. Their new track dropping today, Nostalgia is the first page in a new chapter. Primarily because the Perth outfit have changed their name.
A big risk for any band, the newly penned MYTHS are ready to show that they have in no way lost touch with the sound they have worked so hard to create. The single comes ahead of an impending LP Paradigm, due for release later in the year and the band have wasted no time in hitting the ground running.
The new single is jam packed with spacey synth, subtly building drums and a killer saxophone section. With unobtrusive vocals and a clear nod to notable Perth psych veterans Tame Impala, Nostalgia is brought together with a funk thread that you just can’t shake.
An exciting and gripping introduction to MYTHS as an act, Nostalgia builds on a 1960s revivalist mentality with bolder synth and disco elements.
With that all important sax on Nostalgia, courtesy of Koi Child’s Jamie Canny, MYTHS are setting themselves up as investigators of a new sound, building on their original work and introducing some experimental additions which will likely keep us intrigued long after the record has hit the shelves.
But the name is not the only change the band has made in recent times. The addition of drummer Mitch Benson in 2016 saw the High Learys realise that their collective was simply not the same band as when they formed in 2011.
Nothing lasts forever and with Benson’s entry to the fold, a change in direction seemed only natural.
Paradigm was produced and recorded independently over the course of twelve months and in some of the most unlikely of places, journeying through forests, beachside studios and sharehouse living rooms. With limited access to the technology most of us take for granted, the band found that the raw authenticity of their sound was born out of necessity. As keys player Mike Nutt explained;
“Something we really wanted to do from the outset was lace the whole album with lots of little intricacies that you maybe don’t notice on the first listen, or until you’re alone with a good pair of headphones… weird noises buried in there, esoteric samples and the like.”
“Unfortunately when you’re paying for studio time you don’t get the luxury of spending a whole day tinkering with tiny things like that, so we knew from day one we were gonna have to do things the hard way.”
It’s becoming apparent to all that MYTHS fka The High Learys are anything other than predictable and this record is sure to keep everyone watching and waiting to see where the newly inspired band goes next.
