ERASERS (Rebecca Orchard, Rupert Thomas) create hypnotic compositions of synth, guitar and voice, evoking the vast expanse of their native landscape and the shrouded emotions beneath the senses.
Gliding down the line between psychedelic minimalism and defined pop structures, Orchard and Thomas have created an immersive, alternate reality whose latest incarnation, their third album Constant Connection, was released earlier this year on Fire Talk (USA/ROW) and Night School (UK/EU). We chatted with the pair ahead of their ALT//FEST performance at Badlands Bar on November 12.
You’ve just returned from a European tour. Can you give us any tour highlights?
There were honestly so many highlights which mostly involved meeting like-minded people, the generosity of locals, the hospitality of the venues and promotors. To name one, we got invited to play a show in Aberdeen, Scotland before we’d even considered doing a proper tour for the album. We received a message from a lovely couple, Mike and Jenny of Interesting Music Promotions, who heard our record and said if we ever wanted to come to Aberdeen they would put on a show for us. Once the tour schedule came together, we got in contact and decided it was worth the seven-hour drive from Manchester to meet them and play the show.
We drove up with Night School label-head Michael and road-tripped our way to Aberdeen to play inside a venue housed inside an old tunnel. Mike and Jenny had seen we liked pizza, so arranged food and snacks for us, and it was a delight to meet them. We were supported by local legend Kitchen Cynics, who completely blew our minds and had some great conversations with the local characters. After the show, we went to a couple of bars and could not buy ourselves a drink! Each time someone who was at the show would see us and refuse to let us buy our own drinks. It was wild!
This tour was off the back of your recent release, Constant Connection. How did the new material unfold live?
We endeavoured to celebrate the album by playing it as close as we could to the recordings. We tend to enjoy playing a set of songs for a period of time and then moving on to something completely new. The live set unfolds with the same opener as on record, and the same with the ending. We decided to add in one track, Heavy Words, from our previous album Pulse Points as well, which was a great decision and we really enjoyed playing it. Depending on the show, we’d get a feel for whether we wanted to play the set in-full or trim it down if the vibe wasn’t quite there for slower songs for example.
Can you describe how the material for your latest release came together?
We recorded the album ourselves in 2020 from our home studio. This album came together similarly to the way we always work; by layering around a central sound or idea, usually a drum loop. From here, we add our individual parts and piece together a song like that. Usually, vocals come last and are treated almost as another instrument or tone. Some of the ideas for songs came through jamming them out a bit and others were figured out in relation to the layers already recorded. Some of the songs came together fairly quickly too and seemed to gel together swiftly, like the title track Constant Connection.
The latest release serves as “…a meditation on landscape, power, the shadow-world of human emotions and stream of consciousness”. Can you flesh out how these influences shone through?
We don’t consciously try to create songs about anything too specific and instead just see what emerges. Of course, adding lyrics in through the vocal melodies tends to shape the direction of the song, even if they’re added in towards the end of the recording process. We're endlessly inspired by and feel very lucky to live on Whadjuk Country and live next door to the Cockburn Community Wildlife Corridor – a span of bushland that extends from Bibra Lake to the Indian Ocean. Field recordings from the landscape feature in our work occasionally as little reminders of this. At the time of recording, and still now, themes of power and political turmoil, environmental crisis and human isolation were all present. Connection is a really big theme of this album, it turns out, and something we both really value.
Can you describe the song you most connect with personally on the release and the story behind this piece?
We both really enjoy the title track Constant Connection and we’ve enjoyed playing it live even night-after-night! It feels like our version of a catchy pop song. This was one song that came together pretty quick; everything just kind of worked together and I think that comes through in both the recording and when we play it live. It seems to capture the essence of the whole album, which is why we thought it would be a good album name.
What would be your ideal contemporary Australian gig (in an ideal world) and why?
We’d love to see more separation of gigs always being in bar venues. It would be cool to have more outdoor gigs, day time gigs where anyone can attend, all-ages gigs, and even a gentle ambient show in a bird or butterfly sanctuary. It’d be amazing to play in an observatory where people could lie down under the stars and listen to music!
ALT // FEST is on Saturday, November 12 at Badlands Bar. Tickets available now here.