#zonoscope

Photo by Tamar Levine

BY JORDAN MAINZER

On Friday, beloved Australian synth pop band Cut Copy released their best album since 2011′s very good Zonoscope by shifting from the dynamic beats and blissful crescendos of their best and best-known material. Freeze, Melt is insular and experimental, more mellow and less obviously dance-oriented than their previous records. Lead singles “Love Is All We Share” and “Cold Water” are minimal and slow-burning. “Stop Horizon” wistfully revolves around a twinkling guitar track and wordless chorus. Even if they’re made from synths, “Running in the Grass” and “A Perfect Day” embrace the sounds of mallet and hand percussion over club-ready beats. When the synthesizers do show themselves, they pan with staccatos like surrounding drops of water on gentle tracks like “Rain”. 

I asked drummer Mitchell Scott some questions about Freeze, Melt over email. Read his responses below.

Since I Left You: What's unique about Freeze, Melt as compared to your past records?

Mitchell Scott: This is a different-sounding record for us. We took a minimal approach to the songs, it's at once more electronic and less dance than what we've done before, so it occupies a more minimal space.

SILY: In the video posted about the making of Freeze, Melt, [founder Dan Whitford] talks about the randomness that went into making the record. Do you think it's your most experimental album?

MS: We deliberately went into the studio with less-finished demos, reasoning that it allows experimentation to fill the gaps. Our studio was a beautiful place in the hills outside of Melbourne, filled with cool synths and instruments. It was a great place to come together and make the record.

SILY: Dan has talked about how the first two songs released from the album, "Love Is All We Share" and "Cold Water", have taken on new significance after the social distancing required as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Did that factor into the reason to release them first?

MS: As the world has greatly changed so rapidly, this record certainly seems to fit as a soundtrack for these strange times. “Love Is All We Share” wasn't always going to come first, but felt right by the time we had to choose a first single.

SILY: Do you think that "Love Is All We Share" and "Cold Water" best exemplify the new mellow turn the album takes in comparison to your other records?

MS: I think those are 2 great examples that work as strong pop tunes but sit well alongside the ambient and sparse instrumental tracks on the record.

SILY: Many of the songs on the album have a sense of movement even if they're not explicitly dance-oriented. Can you talk about how you approached the composition of this record?

MS: We were conscious of not overdoing things by adding too many instruments and losing the beauty of a groove or interplay between the sparse elements that hold the songs together. We took a "less is more" approach and would often first try to remove something rather than add a new element. We resisted the temptation to record guitar, bass and drum parts on each song.

SILY: What role do some of the more instrumental, wordless tracks on the album, like "Stop Horizon" and "In Transit", play?

MS: We chose our favorite demos to work on for the record, and these were among them. We didn't exactly set out to include instrumental tracks, but there was something to these that made us want to work on them. These are key tracks in the context of the record and capture a mood. A listener always imprints their own feelings when listening to music, and that's especially true for instrumental music, as there are no lyrics to contradict the message you receive from it.

SILY: Do you have a favorite song on the album?

MS: “Cold Water” has been my favorite. I really like the way it builds and develops.

SILY: What's the inspiration behind the album title? The album art?

MS: Something that attempts to convey the cyclical nature of life, inevitability, and natural beauty.

SILY: Have you thought about how, when the time comes, you might perform these songs live? Are you doing any socially distanced live shows or live streams?

MS: The first challenge with performing these songs is the lack of instrumentation, so we will have to reinterpret them to play live. We got together and played one show in March, right before Melbourne went into lockdown. We live in different countries, so we haven't figured out a way or the right time for a live stream performance.

SILY: What's next for Cut Copy?

Zonoscope  -  2011

Track 1  -  Need You Now

Track 2  -  Take Me Over

Track 3  -  Where I’m Going

Track 4  -  Pharaohs & Pyramids

Track 5  -  Blink & You’ll Miss a Revolution

Track 6  -  Strange Nostalgia for the Future

Track 7  -  This Is All We’ve Got

Track 8  -  Alisa

Track 9  -  Hanging Onto Every Heartbeat

Track 10 -  Corner of the Sky

All you need is a dream and a lover too...