Mist swoops over a suburban terrain in Hermitude’s latest single ‘Promises’. Decorated with doo wops, and pollyannish aura, the magnetism that exudes from the Australian duo’s latest release dictates the groups ethos for euphoric optimism, and with a coziness, their synths electrify our days with a yellow pastel. Twist the jam jar.
Your writing?
I think what influences the writing process for us is a number of things, but we were listening to a lot of different music before we started. I guess I was listening to a lot of from Floating Points and Quartets Sixteen Oceans Out when we were beginning the writing sessions, and more up-tempo records than I would usually listen to. We hadn’t really trotted down that path much in our music career before, and it was a nice area to explore.
Touring?
It was amazing! We went over to Japan for one festival. We love Japan, we’ve been over there a bunch of times…the crowds are really into it, if they like something they really go for it.
Your synths?
I think the synths we do are specifically with this new album, stripped to just two. With previous albums we’ve had multiple synths set up, and we use a lot of plug in BST’s. We often layer a lot of sounds on top of each other, but for this album we really stripped it back and we basically set up two synths. They kind of were our instruments for Neuro Mountain where we used a classic 1980s analog, and then a mood matriarch which I had bought prior to the writing sessions. We loved the palette of those together. This is the palette of the album and we try to keep it more minimal and stripped back. I think the limitation breeds creativity because you’ve only got these couple instruments, and it forces you to dive deeper into them…and I think that was a fun process for us.
If your creativity was a color?
Gold!
If someone gave you a sardine, what would you do with it?
I would put it in some salt, and let it sort of dry brine for a little bit, and then I would put some charcoals in a barbecue, light them up, get them nice and hot and then put that sardine on the coals and fry it inside. I had a Portuguese friend come over and do exactly that. It was amazing!
Your favorite artist of color?
Frank Ocean.
What would you say is your most catastrophic stage experience?
There’s been a few! We were playing the main stage at Subsonic, the festival in Australia, and right at the peak of the set we went into the drop and the whole lighting system and PA blew up and everything went dark, and we couldn’t even see the crowd. It was game over…I think the base blew and tripped the system and everything shut off basically.
Your favorite holiday?
We had a gig up in Foals festival in Byron’s Bay over NYE, and NYE also happens to be my birthday so me and about five friends went up to Byron’s a week earlier and hired out this Airbnb that was in this beautiful location in the hills of Byron. Often times over NY in Australia particularly it’s a really busy time for festivals. Many years of my touring life I’ve been away and haven’t seen many friends. This time we didn’t have any festivals leading up before the NY gig, so we went up there for about a week and hung out with friends and had a really good time. Good times with family and friends.
A favorite festival?
Lightning in a Bottle in California. Really really cool!
Tame Impala?
I’m a fan of their earlier music. I know that’s the most cliché thing to say…I like Slow Rush…but yeah, I can’t say that I crank it as hard as some of the previous albums.
Your favorite way to eat an avocado…please don’t say toast!
My favorite way to eat it is to cut it in half take the pit out, put a little bit of soy sauce on top and then a little bit of sesame oil and then just eat it with a spoon. It’s really nice!
Your favorite remix?
‘Say My Name’ for Odessa.
If you were to go crazy when hearing a song what would it be?
The flume remix of ‘Tennis Courts’…its dope!
If you were stuck in a palm tree, how would you get down?
I would shimmy down a little bit…and then jump!
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