Myles du Chateau and Jeremy Lloyd (Softwar) are at the forefront of Australia’s new flagship of boogie-bound house sounds. On their way to cracking the international scene, the Sydney duo have just released a new EP and are currently touring Oz and Asia on a mission that will see them docking into the Aviary Rooftop Sessions this Sunday. JO CAMPBELL reports.
Having put out some fresh remixes in recent years (Bag Raiders, Groove Armada, RüFüS, Clubfeet) and being part of the Future Classic stable (the home of Flight Facilities and Flume) Softwar are currently on the up and up, receiving plays on triple j and most recently, BBC Radio 1.
So it’s little wonder that when X-Press gets Jeremy Lloyd on the phone, he’s a little busy. Softwar are on their way to perform in Singapore followed by Shanghai in less than 24 hours and he’s trying to secure a visa. This will be their second visit to Asia this year, with Jakarta receiving the honours six weeks ago.
“It took us both by surprise because we didn’t think we’d have any kind of following in Indonesia, let alone Jakarta, so that was a happy surprise,” recalls Lloyd. “How did they respond to deep house? Quite well actually! There were a few people that sort of just watched really intently at the start; I felt like were a bit of a show pony (laughs) but then after people had a couple of drinks and loosened up a bit it turned into a big dance party, which was good.”
Their new EP dropped in May on Modular Records, has been aimed at the dancefloor with definite deep house finesse. One Day is an atmospheric chugger while the flipside track, Believe, is a smoother house jam. The record is a slight departure from their previous work.
“The last one (EP) we did for Future Classic was a bit more flowing, a bit indecisive between house music and disco – it was sort of a cross-over piece, whereas this one, we decided to do a straight-up club track,” says Lloyd, who is the DJ head of the team to du Chateau’s more producer focused skill-set.
“It was sometimes a bit of an up hill battle (the making of the EP). Miles and I, we tend to bicker quite a lot, we can be pretty childish with eachother at times, (laughs) but I think it’s healthy – we bounce a lot of each other and it leads to us being creative in ways that we might not have been possible.”
Despite the bickering, the new EP is a finely polished product backed up by two smooth remixes. Amsterdam up and comers, Detroit Swindle, reworked One Day while Griffin James, aka Melbourne’s Francis Inferno Orchestra, remixed Believe.
“He said he didn’t want to just make a regurgitated house song; that he’d like to try something different,” says Lloyd of James, who met the two out partying in Sydney some years ago. “Which is what he did; he made something a bit darker and moodier. I couldn’t imagine a better remix for it.”
The EP has gotten some air on BBC Radio 1, suggesting the two might soon have a following in Europe. “But I think it’s more likely that we’re going to go to America now. We’ve just signed to an agency there and I think we are going to scrap Europe and do a big America tour; New York, Detroit, LA, Miami… Somebody suggested we played in Texas?”
https://soundcloud.com/sof-1/colour-flight-silver
