Australian duo Hermitude have been pushing the boundaries in electronic and instrumental music for nearly two decades now, earning themselves an impressive reputation in the process.
Between killer beats, precise mixing, and influential collaborations, you’d be hard pressed to find a more dynamic duo than El Gusto and Luke Dubs.
With their recent release of their newest album Pollyanarchy featuring a litany of guest artists and receiving widespread praise across the board, this Blue Mountains pair know how to keep listeners enticed and hungry for more.
From their recent tour in Asia and North America to their current Aussie tour, Hermitude have been delivering mouth-watering tunes to our ears at every opportunity.
With such a buzz of activity happening with these guys this year, we chatted with Luke Dubs to get the details of their new album, current tour, and what’s to come.
Check out ‘OneFourThree’ by Hermitude:
Tone Deaf: You both have been making music together since the early 2000s — how do you think your sound has evolved since the beginning, and where do you think it’ll go next?
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Luke Dubbs: We started out, primarily, as an instrumental group when we first started writing records. We were really interested and inspired by the trip-hop scene that was happening out of the UK around the early 2000s.
By the time we got to our third record, we were moving away from that sound and more into live instrumentation, and doing stuff almost as a band. Then, we had a little break and came back with our fourth album HyperParadise, which was kind of influenced by that LA sound, like Flying Lotus and Hudson Mohawke.
We’re really influenced by hip-hop, so we decided to do a vocal record, which is Pollyanarchy. Every album we like to take ourselves out of our comfort zone and set out to do something different just so it doesn’t get repetitive and boring for us, and also for everybody else who has to listen to us [laughs].
As for where it’s going next? I’m not really too sure. Having just finished that record, we’ll probably start putting some sketches together in the coming months and your guess is as good as mine – I don’t know where it’s going next.
TD: Your latest album, Pollyanarchy, dropped back in September — what has the reaction been like to it so far?
LD: It’s been really positive! People have been really enjoying it. They’ve been liking the new direction. I guess that’s a thing when you’re a fan of a band, bands usually try to change it up from record to record.
Every time a band releases a new record, you go on the journey with them. People are really willing to come on that journey with us. We wanted to go somewhere different and people have been really open to that, and they’ve been enjoying the music, which is great.
Check out Hermitude’s ‘Stupid World’:
TD: Recently you were touring in Asia and North America — how did the crowds compare to the Australian ones?
LD: Asia was really lit, actually! It was super vibe-y. We were doing club sets, though. It was kind of a different thing where we were DJ-ing. We were playing like half of our own music and half of other people’s music…doing really late night kind of sets, which was great.
Then, when we went to the States, we had the live show which was playing all original music, and it was going down really well there! The record wasn’t out yet at that stage, so we were doing a few songs from there and people were probably hearing them for the first time. It’s always hard to gauge how it’s going down when people don’t know the music.
Since we’ve got to Australia, it’s been really receptive, obviously, because it’s a home country kind of tour. Also because the album is out now, people have had the chance to sit with it for a minute and gravitate towards certain songs. It’s been good to see what’s been working at shows, and what people have been dancing to the most. The Australian crowds have been my favourite so far.
TD: You guys paired up with Haiku Hands and Ninajirachi for your current Aussie tour — how has that been so far?
LD: It’s a really good combo, actually! Nina is coming up massively at the moment and Haiku Hands are just blowing up. Nina plays a high-energy kind of club set, and she’s also DJ-ing for Haiku Hands when they jump up.
Then, Haiku Hands jump up for a song with us so it’s kind of like this really cool family affair on stage. We’re all kind of sharing the stage with each other and we’re all hanging out in the same rooms backstage. It’s really nice. It doesn’t feel like a tour where people are separated in their own rooms or have their own space, everyone is just hanging out together. It’s awesome.
Check out Hermitude’s ‘Northern Lights’:
TD: Pollyanarchy saw you guys involving multiple guest vocalists like BJ The Chicago Kid, Buddy, Bibi Bourelly, Vic Mensa, and so-on — what was it like collaborating with so many amazing artists?
LD: Yeah, it was wild! It was tricky at times with not only finding the right artist but getting what we wanted for our songs. We’re instrumental producers, so we don’t have a great vocabulary when it comes to lyrics, so you have to align with artists that are really resonating with the thoughts and feelings that you have.
We’re really lucky with who we ended up in rooms with and the resulting songs. Some of the stuff we did abroad. We worked with Bibi just online. We’d send her stuff, and she’d send us stuff back. Then with people like Vic, Buddy, and BJ, we went to their studios in California and worked with those guys in the same room which was an amazing experience in itself.
They’re such pros. They just write the songs on the spot — ‘OneFourThree’ was written in a day, and so was ‘Dusk Till Dawn’ with Vic, so it was really crazy to see the work flow that those guys have, and the dedication that they have for what they do. The result is just really amazing music. It was a blessing to work with all of those artists.
TD: This album obviously has a different vibe than your previous albums have — who were your influences?
LD: We were listening to a lot of vocal music, to be honest. I guess it was just something we were gravitating towards. We were listening to heaps of rap music, actually — a lot of stuff from Atlanta like Big K.R.I.T., J. Cole, and Kendrick Lamar. It was just the stuff we felt was most exciting to us at the time. That always seems to weave its way back into our own music.
Whatever music we’re listening to and feeling at the time is the biggest influence through that album cycle, and that is what the album blends most with. It was a lot of vocal driven music, and I guess that was partly the reason why we wanted to do a vocal record, and it was something that we’d always wanted to do.
Check out Hermitude’s cover of Nirvana’s ‘Heart-Shaped Box’:
TD: Recently, you guys covered Nirvana’s ‘Heart-Shaped Box for triple j’s Like A Version — how did you go about deciding which song to cover and how was the experience?
LD: We wanted to do something that was different stylistically. It’s always easy to gravitate towards something that’s in your genre because it’s going to be easier to do a rendition of.
We’re both massive Nirvana fans from back in the day and just grunge and metal fans in general, so we just picked a song that we really liked that was so far removed from what we do. Nirvana was just the one that lasted the test of all the short list that we had going on, and we were so glad. It came out really great.
Jaguar Jonze was introduced to us by our manager and she’s amazing. She was the perfect pairing for this tune because she has a really subtle, kind of brooding/moody style. She did Kurt’s vocals so well, we feel. It was an amazing experience. It was hard putting it all together, and finding the time and stuff, because we’re so busy at the moment.
Once it all came together, and we had the beat ready, Jaguar Jonze came down and rehearsed it. As soon as we ran it the first time, we were like, “ah, yeah, this sounds sick… this is going to be really cool.”
TD: Lastly, what have you both got planned for when the tour wraps up?
LD: We’re probably going to relax [laughs]. It’s been a big year. Always towards the end of a record it really intensifies, and you’re putting in more hours just to get it over the finish line. Once we finished the record, we went straight on into Asia and the US, and then only had a couple weeks on, and now we’re on this tour, so it’s probably going to be some well earned rest.
I’m ready to kick my feet up, for sure! Once next year rolls in we’re probably going to start tinkering on some new ideas and see where we end up for another release.
Hermitude’s album Pollyanarchy is out now, and are currently in the midst of an Australian tour. Check out all the details below.
Check out Hermitude’s ‘Every Day’:
Hermitude Australian Tour 2019
With special guests Haiku Hands & NINAJIRACHI
Remaining Dates:
Friday, November 22nd (AA)
Enmore Theatre, Sydney, NSW
Saturday, November 23rd (AA)
Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane, QLD
Saturday, November 30th (New Show)
Kambri, Canberra, ACT
Friday, December 6th (New Show)
Unibar, Wollongong, NSW
Tickets on sale now through Live Nation
