As the music world awaits the much anticipated debut record from RUFÜS the band is preparing for national tours and featuring as a major drawcard at the new festival Listen Out.
James Hunt says they’re relieved to finally be releasing Atlas after a year of patient construction following producing ear-catching tunes like Take Me and a recent gig as programmers on Triple J. “We’ve been working on the album for the last twelve months or so and sitting on it for a while,” Hunt says. “Finally people can hear it and with the process coming to this point it’s pretty meaningful.
“On the last two EPs we were trying to get things done quicker and make things happen,” he says. “When we started recording the album last year we allowed ourselves to spend time on sonic experimentation and really be happy with the tones we were bringing out.”
The trio are all perfectionists in their methods, and each contribute equally to their careful and open-minded songwriting process. “We might tinker over one bass tone for a whole day until we’re happy with it,” Hunt says. “We’ll work on it until it’s up to our standard because in the end we’re making music we want to listen to.
“As we were writing the album we were listening to different artists, particularly minimal tech house like Booka Shade, which was quite a big influence on some of the textures of the album, the way certain instruments play off each other,” he says.
“Because we had so much time recording, we worked on live instrumentation to play along with the electronic influences,” he says. “Bands like Foals were an influence on the live side of things as well.”
The RUFÜS project began as a two man show between singer-guitarist Tyrone Lindqvist and keyboardist Jon George, with drummer Hunt joining on to add to the live performance aspect, the guys preferring a live band setting for their gigs.
“After Tyrone and Jon had written the tracks that became the Surf EP, I joined on and we started bringing a live show together,” he says. “That then inspired the writing process and it goes full circle with both sides really influencing each other.”
Describing the writing process as a democracy, Hunt points to the fact that combining a band formation and electronic music is what has worked so well for RUFÜS, with their various influences and interests adding dimensions to their music and earning them airplay and touring opportunities.
“Writing is kind of like shift work at times,” he says. “We’ll all have a go writing in a percussion part or a bass line that we’re really feeling and we’ll go with whatever each person is passionate about. If it’s not working, someone else will have a go.”
Describing the reason behind their rapid success, Hunt says it comes down to doing what they love and remembering it’s all about how the music makes you feel.
“The music just seems to resonate with a lot of people, I’m not exactly sure why,” he says. “It’s definitely reassuring that we’re able to do something that we love and get this kind of response, which is both amazing and bewildering.”
