Can you tell us about the inspiration behind your latest single, “Dream About You”?
Dream About You was lyrically inspired by the murkiness of modern relationships and how the unspoken is often more of what we experience than reality itself. Sonically, we were all collectively listening to a lot of pop and dance music at the time and I think with all of us in the band having simultaneously experienced relationship trials at the time, the song came together pretty naturally.
How did the recording process at The Grove Studios influence the sound of “Dream About You”?
We love recording at The Grove Studios, being able to stay at the same place you record creates an undeniable sense of calm and comfort which always makes for a better recording environment. Taking out the stress of commuting back and forth from the studio is always nice. Also being amongst nature and isolated from the hustle and bustle of the city makes it easy to lock in and focus on just recording music. We love the flavour that The Grove Studios has and the awesome gear they have makes it easy to get great sounds too.
What was it like working with Jack Garzonio and Steve Smart on mixing and mastering your single?
We’ve been working with both Jack and Steve for quite a few of our latest releases, they’re both amazing at what they do and very inspiring to work as you know you’ll get a great final result no matter what we throw at them.
“Dream About You” has been described as having a 70s Soft Rock influence. What artists or bands from that era inspire your music?
We all listen to a lot of different music so although 70s soft rock was definitely an influence on the track, there’s so many different artists from different eras that inspire our music. From that era specifically, we’ve been listening to quite a bit of Fleetwood Mac and Steely Dan so I’d say their influence definitely creeped into the track.
The themes in “Dream About You” revolve around modern romance. How do you approach writing about personal experiences in your music?
Personal experience is the cornerstone of what influences our music. We always strive to make our music genuine both lyrically and sonically and so inevitably personal experience plays a massive part in achieving that. I think being as open and honest as you can with your experiences in the writing process allows for people to connect and relate to it more with their own experiences too. I think the goal is to share something that everyone is feeling or experienced but hasn’t quite figured out how to express themselves.
You’ve supported acts like The Smith Street Band and Rum Jungle. How have these experiences shaped your development as a band?
We’ve been very fortunate to support so many amazing bands and it has definitely shaped our development. The live show has always been a massive part of what we do and it shapes our writing process as we often take into consideration how certain songs make people feel in a live setting or how they fit into the flow of our set. Supporting these bigger bands has allowed us to continue exposing our music to new audiences and continue to gain new reactions from people which in turn helps us to refine our set and musicianship. Also being able to watch all those awesome headline acts play their sets is very inspiring for us to continue to hone our craft and take it to the next level.
Your past single “Too Late Now” received extensive radio play. How does it feel to have your music so well received by local tastemakers?
It feels really great to know that people are connecting with our music and keen to share it! We love making music regardless of any external outcome but it’s always awesome when more people get to hear our music.
What can fans expect from your upcoming East Coast tour? Any special surprises or new songs?
We have a lot of unreleased material we’re working on that’s in our current set as well as the tracks people have come to know and love. We always love playing songs live before we record them to allow for them to fully develop, so you’ll be able to hear a healthy dose of what’s to come in our upcoming shows. We feel it’s a good mix of old and new so I think they’ll be something for everyone in these shows.
How has your sound evolved since your debut EP in 2021?
I think we’ve all developed our taste in music as well as songwriting since the first EP so I think our sound has naturally developed quite a lot. The first EP was fuelled by a lot of built up energy during the COVID lockdowns which resulted in a lot of riff based music. I think we’re all loving groove based music as well as a sound that is more pop focused at the moment and so that’s being reflected in the new music we’re creating. We always follow what’s genuine to us in our writing so inevitably our sound will continue to change as it continues to reflect us changing as people.
Can you talk about the creative process behind the single art for “Dream About You” by Jordy Rudan?
This was our first time working with Jordy and we were absolutely blown away with her amazing style of photography and process. We knew we wanted this cover art to be a photo of the band in some capacity and be a bit minimalistic to reflect the change in image and art style we were going for with our new music. We really wanted Jordy to do her thing within those outlines and so when we chose to do the shoot locally on the Northern Beaches, the natural landscapes ended up playing a massive part in the photos. Jordy has a great eye for what works and what doesn’t so she made it easy to get a great result that feels full but also quite minimal at the same time.
How do you balance your distinctive psych-pop sound with staying relevant in the ever-changing music scene?
It’s so easy to get lost in analyzing your sound and comparing it to what’s trending or popular in the current music landscape, but I think the less you get sucked into outside influence the better. People don’t know what they want until they hear it so by trying to give people what you think they want, it will always fall short. Genuine music is fundamentally what people connect with the most so we just try to make music that excites and connects with us the most, then in turn hopefully connects with other people too.
What’s next for Scatter Light after this tour? Are there any new projects or collaborations in the works?
We’ve got a bunch of great support slots as well as mini fest spots coming up over the winter/spring months which is exciting. We’ve also got quite a bit of studio time booked in too as we’re currently finishing off new music to build towards an album that should come out next year. We’re looking to release a couple more songs by the end of the year and do another big tour in the summer months to support the new singles so plenty happening to keep us busy!
‘DREAM ABOUT YOU’ SINGLE TOUR
Friday, July 19th Shark Bar Manly, NSW
Supports tba
Saturday, July 20th Dicey Rileys Wollongong, NSW
w/ Earl Grey & Kryver
triple j Unearthed | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube