Fuzzy garage psych five-piece Mature Themes will release their debut record Another Kind of Life on August 8.
For Naarm-based garage psych outfit Mature Themes, their debut album Another Kind of Life is just that. After three years of releasing a slew of earworm singles, the band is heading out on a new path with a record that positions them at the forefront of the local indie scene.
Exploring a vast array of terrain across the album, Another Kind of Life is underlined with fuzzy idiosyncrasies reminiscent of 90s and 2000s texture. Headed up by Aaron Williams, Mature Themes joins Marlee J. Dalton, Rudy Polacheck, Adele Venn-Casey and Nick Scully together to create a debut album that announces who the band is. That is, a band that cascades across sonic soundscapes and barrels forth down a path of their own.
Mature Themes’ Another Kind of Life album launch
- With Hobsons Bay Coast Guard and Al Matcott & The Forever Band
- Friday, August 8
- Brunswick’s Bergy Bandroom
- Tickets here
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Speaking from their home studio in Northcote, Mature Themes frontman Aaron explains the catalyst that prompted an exploration of new sounds heard across Another Kind of Life.
“All our previous recordings really leant into a lo-fi sound, and we really wanted to step that up with cleaner production and more diverse compositions or arrangements,” he says. “Tastes and influences definitely change over time, and we were hungry to channel those new pieces of inspiration into a cohesive body of work.”
With producer and engineer – and ex-housemate – James Cowling at the helm, refining Another Kind of Life into a cohesive journey of eccentric tracks with room to breathe and become their own entire new kind of sound allowed the album to take shape and dig deeper.
The collaboration came about when Aaron was subletting a room at James’ house for a couple of months, the sound of songs James was working on with other artists bouncing off the walls between the rooms. “He was working on so much music at the time, whether it was his own or others’,” Aaron says. “I could instantly hear how well his production style and musical taste would translate to our own sound.”
A soundscape beyond comfort zones
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The proof of this successful creative match is threaded throughout the nine songs that make up Another Kind of Life. For Aaron, James’ masterful production fingerprints were especially impactful across a few memorable sonic tidbits.
“When recording vocals, he was always pushing myself or Marlee to bring as much energy as we could to certain moments,” Aaron reflects. “When recording the track Seems So Strange, he said, I want you to channel Ambrose Kenny-Smith playing on stage at Meredith, and all your mates are up the front gassing you up. He said something similar to Marlee when she was recording her parts for Sweet Release, which was simply: Be Pink.”
Mature Themes built the album from the ground up, working out which pieces fit in the best place to culminate in an image that they were figuring out as they went along.
“Once it came to the mixing stage, we trusted James to add his production style to take the songs into new directions and open many new doors that maybe we wouldn’t have thought of ourselves. It was such a collaborative process amongst everyone, with any idea open for exploration.”
At the crux of the album is a desire for expanding sounds beyond their imagined ceiling, pushing them further and deeper and breaking into a space where the sonic unknown was awaiting. It helps that the band was more interested to see what could come from simply mucking around with sounds and trying out new things.
“I don’t think any of us really expected the songs to take on the form they did by the end of recording, which was such a pleasant surprise,” Aaron says. “Allowing space for a lot of creativity gave us a really sonically diverse record that feels very authentic and definitive of our sound.”
“It instantly felt like something special”
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The titular track that closes out Another Kind of Life is perhaps most emblematic of the kind of controlled chaos Mature Themes have mastered across the album. However, what’s perhaps most emblematic of the impassioned exploration of musical possibilities is the accident of how the song came to be.
“[Another Kind of Life] came about one day at a sound check with Rudy playing the main guitar part, which was inspired by The Buzzcocks,” Aaron explains. “Not a band I’d ever think of to bleed its way into Themes but you never know!
“After that, we all jammed it together, and it instantly felt like something special because it was the first time we really wrote something as a unit. Adele and Nick really locked in on the rhythm section for this one too, finding a way to leave a lot of room for the track to breathe during the verses.
“The big ending came together in the studio, with James’ suggesting that we add a vocal melody to really carry it home to a strong finish. He then had this amazing idea to make it sound as chaotic as possible, as if the record was falling apart as it came to a close. It’s easy to say that it’s our favourite track on the album.”
That strong finish to the track is simultaneously a strong finish to the album. Suffice to say, however, Mature Themes are only just getting started. The band will be launching Another Kind of Life at Brunswick’s Bergy Bandroom the day of the album’s release, August 8. Joined by Hobsons Bay Coast Guard and Al Matcott & The Forever Band, the gig marks a new kind of life for Mature Themes’ music.
For tickets to see Mature Themes at Bergy Bandroom on August 8, head here.
