It’s been two years since two former Melbourne DJs burst onto the music scene as Gypsy & The Cat, the duo of Xavier Bacash and Lionel Towers arriving seemingly out of nowhere with Gilgamesh. They made quite the impression on the local scene, particularly on Triple J with listeners voting three of their debut album’s singles (‘Jona Vark’, ‘Time To Wander’ & ‘Piper’s Song’) into the 2011 ranks of the Hottest 100.
In fact it was the national youth radio station played the duo’s first new single from their forthcoming album.
“Sorry” is the band’s first new material since Gilgamesh and is officially released digitally on August 6th, with the as-yet untitled second album due “sometime in the summer.”
Xavier Bacash appeared on Tom & Alex’s Breakfast program this morning to talk about the development of the album. Speaking of musical influences on the record, Bacash indicated inspirations from Midnight Juggernauts to The Beatles and Pink Floyd, “to the sounds of a scissor-cutter bird on his dad’s farm” where the LP was pieced together.
Last year, Gypsy & The Cat spoke to the Maitland Mercury, saying they were already at work on new material on Bacash’s father’s farm. “It’s probably a bit more ‘summery’,” keyboardist Towers said at the time. “There’s a little bit of world [music] influence in it. It’s definitely different to the first album in many ways,”
“We’re just doing what we want to do, like we always have,” said Towers, adding that “on the next album we might do something even different, but I think [on this album] we needed to do something a little more ‘left’ than the first album.”
“Sorry” does demonstrate more of that “left” influence on their sound, Bacash’s vocals are in a preening falsetto, while squiggles of synth and popping key bass bounce off of bright guitars and clear pianos against a refrain of “I know you will/say you’re sorry/I’m already a ghost of the past.” There’s less of the 80s inspired sounds of “Jona Vark” and “Piper’s Song” and sonically its closer to the bohemian art-pop of MGMT and Yeasayer.
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You can have a listen to the brand new single below:
