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“Laurence [Pike] and I have been living in Sydney for two years now,” Miller states, discussing the group’s disparate geographical anchoring. “Richard [Pike] and I kind of swapped – when I left London he decided to stay, and he’s been there for the last two years,” he reveals with a chuckle. “It has its pros and cons. The only real con for us is the rehearsing thing, so we have to condense all of that into the two weeks before we tour, which isn’t really ideal.”

While Church With No Magic was wondrously cacophonous, Dave explains that the upcoming LP will be a more sedate beast. “There’s a lot less going on, it’s a lot more spacious. That makes it a lot more relaxed, where the last record had a barrage of live sounds. That record was recorded live, then we edited it from there. But this one was very much a controlled process – we had written the songs before we went into the studio, which is the first time we’ve ever done that. I know that’s a strange thing for most bands. I guess things are more considered this time around,” he ponders. “There are still lots of live drums on there, but they play a part rather than improvisation. It’s like drum riffs, things you can remember,” he grins.

Despite the aforementioned trans-hemisphere divide, the collaborative process is more inclusive than ever. “This record is reasonably different in the sense that all three of us created the impetus for songs, with a bassline or a beat or half a song, and we would literally just send files to each other and add and take what we thought we should. It would just be a constant internet collaboration until the demos were finished,” Miller describes. It was the same lyrically as well, which was also the first time the lyrics were more collaborative – mainly between Richard and Laurence – which is also new. Again, it’s a much more considered process. As far as songwriting goes, it was a far more cyclical process.”

Very much still defined as a Sydney band, PVT’s worldly ambitions have by no means absconded from their roots. As for whether or not they are ambassadors for the ‘Sydney sound’, Miller explains that such a notion is too amorphous to define. “I like to think Sydney’s music scenes are quite eclectic. There’s the electro dance thing that’s been around for quite a while now, then there is the more punk side of things with bands like Royal Headache. Then there are lots of wonky electronic producers out and about playing shows. I don’t there is a particular Sydney sound that I’ve noticed, and having said that, there isn’t really a definitive Melbourne sound either. There are a lot of current artists and bands doing very individualistic things. Probably my favourite two Aussie albums of last year were Melbourne bands – the Total Control and Lost Animal records,” Miller reveals.

While their impending Melbourne date will present an intimate taste of upcoming material, their Vivid LIVE appearance will live up to the festival’s reputation as one which celebrates the artistry of light as well as sound. “We’ve always been into lights, and we’ve never been into visuals and projections. I don’t think there’s a need for anyone to look at anything apart from what we do. I’d get worried if that was the case. This has afforded us to pre-prepare a light show for the Vivid appearance, and I’ve been working with the lighting director so that I can trigger things from my electronics. It’s cool for me, I hope it’s cool for the viewers as well,” he laughs. “Another thing we’re doing with Vivid is orchestrating a horn section as well, putting that to some of the new stuff as well as the older stuff.”

BY LACHLAN KANONIUK