But thanks to their slick, electronic sound, Slum Sociable was born and a following quickly formed around the duo after dropping their EP TQ in 2015. Two years on, the pair are ready to release their debut self-titled album, and although Quinn is humble as he chats about putting the album together, it’s clear he’s eager to share their new songs with the world.
“It’s the hardest thing we’ve ever had to do in our lives I think,” Quinn says of making the record. “We had so many songs to choose from and narrowing that down and spending a lot of time on attempting to perfect those tracks and then stripping that down because it didn’t work. It went through a lot of stages but I think it’s a pretty well-rounded record.
“In terms of writing for the record, we don’t stop because we enjoy making music. We just write and don’t think too much about a release plan while we’re writing and when it comes to talking about an album, then we have a body of work to choose from. We’ve been writing this album as early as early 2015, so it’s come a long way,” Quinn says.
“Miller writes all the lyrics and I think it’s safe to say that a lot of them are based around his struggles with mental illness. When it comes out and you read the lyrics you’ll really get an insight into the person that Miller is and what he goes through on a daily basis. I think it’s a really brave release from that standpoint, from him, because it’s very personal and he’s laying everything out on the table for people to respond to. I’m proud to be a part of that in some way, to facilitate it with the music behind it.
“We worked with a producer called Russell Fawcus at his studio in North Melbourne and it probably took a little bit longer than we’d expected because we went in there with a naivety to think that all the songs were done and we just needed to re-record a few things and then spit it out. He was really great at gently telling us that the songs could be improved which is something that we didn’t really understand at the start,” Quinn says. “It was a bit of a slog at times, but I think with anything creative you’ve got to go through those fairly low points to come out with something that’s pretty special, and I think that’s what’s happened.”
The duo are currently gearing up to perform at Melbourne Museum as part of the venue’s Nocturnal series, where they’ll play their new album live for the first time. Quinn says fans can definitely expect a tour from Slum Sociable after the album drops, but remains tight-lipped on the details for now.
“We’ve just wrapped up a week of really intense rehearsals, implementing the new album into the live set, so this is going to be the first one where we’re playing the whole album and that’s really exciting for us because now is the time to play these songs we’ve worked so hard on.
“Melbourne Museum’s going to be the first time we unleash this new and improved live set so it’s pretty exciting, especially to do it in a setting like that. It’s an honour really, because it’s just before the album comes out and we get to play this great space in our hometown.
“If you’d told us we’d be playing these types of venues when we were making this in our bedroom two and a half years ago we would’ve laughed at you. It’s unexpected and the way that people have reacted to our music it’s always a shock but also it’s the best feeling in the world when you can play shows to a group of people with music that you wrote. It’s a great feeling.”
