Devotional are a three-piece band from Sydney, featuring Madelaine Lucas, Luke Bacon and Robert Irish. Developing from Lucas’ solo project, A Casual End Mile, the band begun releasing new material in early 2012. Southern Skies, their debut EP of slow-moving dream pop, is due out for independent release in October and features three singles released to date.
Tone Deaf: You’ve just completed a brand new EP, are you happy with how it has turned out?
Madelaine Lucas: We are looking forward to finally releasing Southern Skies which is a collection of songs we have written and recorded together over the last year or so. Because we were able to record the songs ourselves—at home, and at our rehearsal studio—we were able to get sounds we were happy with, and capture a sense of spontaneity by tracking things live. This is our first release together as Devotional, so it is exciting to have something tangible we can show people.
Are there plans to launch the upcoming EP in cities outside of Sydney? Or for more national touring in the near future?
We’re hoping to get down to Melbourne again before the end of the year, but nothing is planned at the moment. New gigs will be listed on our new website (devotionaldevotional.com) and on our Facebook (www.facebook.com/devotionaldevotional), so keep in touch.
You released ‘Dream Rider’ and ‘Don’t Cry No Tears’ in June, are these tracks a taste of what’s to come with the EP?
Both the tracks are featured on the EP, along with our debut single ‘Mercy’, and I suppose they do give you a taste of what’s to come, in that Southern Skies is generally slow-burning and reverb-heavy; but you need to give each song what it requires.
The EP collects songs we have developed together over the course of becoming a band, and part of that involves figuring out what the three of us can do, and what sounds we like. Although the recordings are pretty stripped back, we’ve tried out drum machines, sleigh bells, Rhodes piano… We’ve always had a pretty strong aesthetic, and because we like certain textures (vocal reverbs, guitar effects) we knew that it would all still fit together.
‘Don’t Cry No Tears’ was recorded as a tribute to Australian band X, what has the response for the track been like? What was the decision behind covering them?
The song was written by my father, Steve Lucas, who fronted X for over 30 years. He used to sing ‘Don’t Cry No Tears’ to my older brother and I when we were younger. Since I’ve been playing music, I’ve always wanted to do a version because I think it is a truly beautiful song.
When Dad announced their final Australian tour, I had the idea to record it in tribute. We stripped the song back, but still wanted to capture the immediacy and honesty that is part of the punk ethos. I think we were able to do this by recording it ourselves live in one take.
The response has been lovely—I think because it was done as a genuine exchange between father and daughter, and it’s nice to reflect that genealogy of Australian music.
Is your songwriting reflective of the environment they are written in?
Definitely. Cities have souls. We’re all interested in psychogeography—how the weather and landscapes effect our moods and inspire us. The songs on our EP were written in all different places. I wrote ‘Heartsong’ in a tiny apartment in Paris while church bells were ringing, and ‘Mercy’ is a about a highway between Sydney and Newcastle. The natural environment is full of timeless imagery, too—oceans, moons, stars; all carry symbolism that I like to borrow.
The great thing about being in a band (opposed to when I was a solo artist) is that together we can develop the songs and reach new places—like dreamscapes, they become alternate visions of reality unique to the ‘Devotional’ world.
‘Fess up. What records have you stolen from your parent’s record collection and why?
Robert and I stole a record by The Original Joplin Forte from his parents. It’s called Ain’t Misbehaving. We were sold on the description on the back: ‘Much of today’s music is concerned with electronic loudness and computerised noise. Our effort is toward an understandable clean sound.’ It’s very twee, ‘70s country-dance hall folk, nostalgic of simpler times.
What Australian bands are exciting you at the moment?
I’m looking forward to seeing Kirin J. Callinan at Oxford Arts next week. He is one of those enigmatic artists who is constantly transforming and breaking new ground. His new song ‘Thighs’ is a delirious and devilish ballad and it’s totally exciting.
I’m also really looking forward to sharing our EP launch with fellow dreamers Eating Flowers (the new project fronted by Bridezilla’s saxophone starlet Millie Hall) and Jules Ferrari (Songs, The Black Ryder). It’s going to be a whole afternoon of lush psych-folk.
Do you have any particular ritual before you go on stage, or even a lucky charm you take with you?
I get pretty nervous before shows, so I normally just hide in the corner with a whiskey.
Because it’s more fun to do things together, which living Australian artist would you most like to collaborate with? Tell us why?
The Dirty Three. They, alone and together, have played on some of my all-time favourite records, and have collaborated individually with Cat Power, Will Oldham, Smog, Low… Their music is Australian in the best way—expansive, dark, beautiful, breath-taking.
What is your band’s music the best soundtrack for?
Anything Lynchian.
Where we can see you play next? Are their plans to record an album?
We’ll be launching our debut EP, Southern Skies with a free show at the Hollywood Hotel in Sydney on Ocotber 21st. In the meantime, you can download our current singles for free from our bandcamp (www.devotional.bandcamp.com) and soundcloud (www.soundcloud.com/devotionaldevotional).
We are already making new recordings of songs I wrote on my recent trip to New York, and hope to have another release of some kind by early 2013, so keep an ear to the ground. x
