Stretching four years in between records, The Presets make their triumphant return with the highly anticipated ‘Pacifica’.
Their last studio effort, 2008’s ‘Apocalypso’, was a commercial and critical success earning the group triple platinum sales and a string of ARIA awards. An intensive touring schedule followed before the duo disappeared from the public eye.
“Our last show for the ‘Apocalypso’ tour was at the Riverstage in Brisbane, so we kind of wrapped everything up and then we went on holidays for a few months,” says Julian Hamilton, the group’s vocalist and keyboardist. “But then we pretty much got stuck into writing as soon as we got home. It was very slow-going at first [because] this was the first chance we ever had to make a record where we had no deadlines.”
Despite the duo’s chart-topping accolades, Julian says replicating their earlier success was not a priority when recording ‘Pacifica’.
“When we made 'My People', 'This Boy's In Love' and 'Talk Like That', all of that stuff was really fun for us at the time, and really exciting for us at the time. Now we're making new bits of music that are equally as exciting and fresh to us … and that's what we tried to replicate; just the enjoyment and honesty of what we do.”
Julian, a classically trained musician, says he and musical partner Kim Moyes wrote using different instruments this time around.
“One of the big differences for me is that I'm a piano player [and] I've been playing my whole life. I've always done a lot of writing at the piano, but I never had one in my studio to record. I don't know if that's going to make the music sound different or not, but that's certainly been one big change.”
‘Ghosts’ is the first single off ‘Pacifica’, and it departs from the electro-laced pop the group is renowned for.
“When we made 'Ghosts' it just felt like something fresh and exciting, and I guess a style that we haven't heard much on the radio before. It has got that kind of sea-shanty sort of colonial sing-a-long vibe, which is something that we quite like.”
‘Pacifica’ is set for release September 14. The Presets play Parklife at the City Botanical Gardens and Riverstage Saturday September 29.
