Aussie psych-rock duo, Wunder Wunder, comprised of Aaron Shanahan and Benjamin Plant, are back home with another sun-swayed album making it their first official release in almost two years via Dovecote Records, influenced by the sounds of previous decades, Wunder Wunder brings you harmonies and handcrafted nostalgia with their homespun sounds of American psychedelia meets 90’s alt-rock. Between the time-capsuled sound of Midnight Hours and Troubled Utopia, and the melting components of dreamy guitar wailings, benevolent harmonies in Wonderful Way, to the psych-baked synth sweeps carried throughout the LP, Everything Infinite envelopes the fluid sounds of a West Coast summer.
This week the boys of Wunder Wunder sat down with us for an exclusive interview, anticipating the celebration of their album release with at The Echo this Tuesday with London-based band Cymbals!
So, congratulations on the new album! I hear it was two years in the making, was this due to just timing or careful production? It wasn’t a solid two years with gigs and etc but we did work the songs for a long time especially at the start as I feel we were learning so much about song writing and recording technique. I also was getting on my feet with my confidence and finding my voice after a break from song writing and singing. So there was a development period and an intense attention to song writing in structure and key changes. I must thank the Beatles for a lot during this time :)
What does the creative process look like between you guys? Sometimes one person has started an idea and there will be something about it in feel or sonically that will energise the other to add to it. It’s a great thing when inspiration takes over and you find yourself riding a wave of creativity to find a few hours have passed. That’s not to say we don’t hit walls as we have also learned the lesson of pushing through and throwing everything at a song until something pops and you get on a roll again.
Also, what can we expect this time around with Everything Infinite? Who came up with the album name. It’s pretty deep! You can expect a flowing album that has had a lot of genuine energy and love put into it. I came up with the name as I felt it was very broad in covering the topics on the album whilst having a depth and essence that I felt suited the album in its spiritual and connected tone. During the time of making this album it has been a big time of change and awareness for us all and I feel this name reflects that.
You guys also recently visited the BBC Radio 6 Studios with Memory Tapes. How was that experience? We didn’t go to the studios but we were played which is amazing and an honour. I hope we get to visit in real life soon!
I also see a lot of interesting track selections from that hour, from old classics by Robert Parker, Blondie, Prince to more contemporary sounds from the likes of Grime. What would you say are some of the music influences behind Wunder Wunder and will we see any of that in the new album? I would say there is big 70’s music influence on the album plus some lo-fi material that we were listening to. I also was aware that music from my teenage years in the 90’s has affected some of the tone of the record. Anything that was sonically rich and had character was attractive to us from lost 70s albums/Beatles to Smashing Pumpkins/Beck/Flaming Lips to Kindness and Phoenix.
You’ve been bumpin’ elbows with some of my favorites for a while now including Washed Out. I know you all recently got off tour with them. How was it performing with them? How were those shows? Amazing! What a lovely bunch of people and the music is genuine and so dreamy and nice. Apart from the good company it was also great to borrow their audiences ears before and really try to warm them up for Washed Out. We learned a lot about performing live and working hard to earn the trust and ears of new listeners.
Tours can get a little crazy. A lot of hazy nights, drinking, but all around a good damn time I’m sure. Got any crazy stories to share? Nothing too crazy as we were pretty focused but we did do a couple of all-nighter drives. We drove from NY to Detroit. Doing a ten hour drive straight puts you into a next level delirious state!
I’m sure they bring up the Australian scene all the time during these interviews but what are your thoughts on coming from a scene that gave us Tame Impala, Empire of The Sun, Cut Copy, among others? Do you feel you have big shoes to fill? I’m not concerned about it at all as we have to do our own thing and what excites us the best we can. I know this music was created in it’s own bubble, away from any of those pressures and influences so now it’s about putting it out there in the world as we are.
There’s a lot of new young producers coming out of Australia right now as well such as Wave Racer, Flume, Anna Lunoe, plus plenty more. What are your thoughts on these rising talents? I think it’s awesome that someone can come along and do something completely different or shift up things so that don’t become stall and boring. That’s the greatest thing about it that a teenager somewhere is creating sounds in an untainted world and doing something different.
I see you’ve got in with Goldroom and Gigamesh and had them remix ‘Coastline’. What inspired these collaborations? We DJ with Miami Horror, have enjoyed these fellas work and thought “I wonder how they would mix one of our jams?” So when the opportunity came up I was very driven to get them onboard.
Any producers you’d like to remix your work? Hmmmm. It would be great to get Lxxry, Duke Dumont or Todd Terje to mix up a song. Todd Terjes’ edits are amazing
We’re all looking forward to next Tuesday were you’ll grace the stage with Cymbals among others! What can we expect from a live Wunder Wunder show? The band brings a lot more energy to the songs than the record so expect a fun and energised show and I hope to make people smile :)
Make sure to give these guys a warm welcome this Tuesday!
