Australian trio Huntly have spent the last few years honing a unique style of pop music that defies genres. Through an array of pop, R&B, techno and drum and bass, they give us catchy and danceable lyrics that dabble in the deeply personal but also touch on our politically turbulent times. All of this manifests itself on their new album Low Grade Buzz, which is out March 15th on Barely Dress Records, and the cornerstone of that is the album’s sultry title track, a slowburning meditation on life that feels beautifully suited to our era of overstimulation and cheap thrills. With plenty of synth and oddball vocal effects, the album jumps from energetic tracks to more lethargic pop, pulling the listener along for the ride. With an album release around the corner that is sure to turn on a whole new group of fans, the members of Huntly recently chatted with Glide about their approach to music, finding inspiration in 90s R&B, and what it really means to seek a low grade buzz.
How did you come upon the “doof you can cry to” approach to your music? Is there a story behind reaching this idea?
Our music has definitely always been oriented toward crying, but when we first started producing music together, it more commonly surfaced as moody down-tempo electronica. But as we grew together, we all became much more interested in dance music, both in terms of its production and its emotional energy, and it wasn’t long before we were experimenting with techno and drum & bass influences. Playing these tracks live and having the audience respond through movement was honestly exhilarating, and definitely shifted the focus of our live shows towards a cathartic dance-oriented experience. There is nothing quite like crying and sweating out your emotions on a dance floor.
Are there other acts dead or living that you felt like informed this approach and style?
There’s a playlist on our Spotify called “Doof We Can Cry To”. We’re constantly finding new and old music that merges dance music with sincere lyrical expression. Some favourites include Jessy Lanza, Suzi Analogue and The Streets.
How did the creative process work on this album in terms of bringing in lyrics and constructing songs?
Each song on the album is different – some started as words in a diary, and then were brought to the band by Elly or Charlie in the form of melody, chords and lyrics and built upward from there. Some started as beat-focused instrumentals that served as a backdrop for lyrical exploration, whilst others came from all three of us playing together in a room.
The album’s title track is so simple yet speaks whole-heartedly to a certain generation and really our current time as a whole. Can you share the story behind the inspiration for it?
I (Elspeth) wrote it after a late night out in Berlin while I was away. I remember that day so distinctly – I came out of the club at around 9am and went to my bike, where my friend Kate (Kate Dillon of Full Flower Moon Band, Gabriella Cohen, and Dirty Power Studios) had left a note. It was written in eyeliner and was wrapped up in flowers and just said something cute about asking that I ride home safely and that she loved me. I rode back to the place we were staying together and we drank coffee and wrote a weird song on the piano that was in the living room. As the day wore on I began reflecting on life and meaning and death and all the big things (a classic train of thought for me on a Sunday afternoon). We lay in the park that afternoon and I wrote the song within a few minutes, using this phrase ‘low grade buzz’ to describe this sense of fullness and emptiness that I experience really often.
“Low Grade Buzz” feels like almost an anthem for many young people now. Did you feel like this song spoke to a certain sentiment of people around you or society as a whole?
(Elspeth) Ok I’m going to go broad here because it really does pertain to the sense of existential dread that the song is about. As a generation we’ve grown up with neoliberalism dominating the way we understand ideas of success, economics, class etc etc. Combined with an imminent climate crisis and a reluctance of our political leaders to admit to this or take action, there’s a real sense of precarity looming over the world. In saying that, the concept of disaster, collapse, and these horrifying futures isn’t new – they’ve been the reality of communities surviving colonisation and genocide, over and over again. But I think this sense of paralysis and uncertainty, combined with the hostility of the current political moment, means it’s an intense environment to grow up and figure out who you are in. I read this awesome article recently which described burnout as the background music of the millennial condition, underpinned by the idea that we should be working all the time, and therefore never really satisfied. As someone who works a lottttt and is often trying to figure out how to be happy and fulfilled – this really spoke to me. That’s the low grade buzz.
It seems an interesting choice to make the title track the last track on the album. Is this a statement on the band to encourage people to listen to the whole album in a single-dominated culture?
We actually didn’t necessarily know exactly which tracks we would release as singles when we finalised the track order! “Low Grade Buzz” definitely always felt like the closing track though, and we purposely produced the end of it to close the album – it fades to a field recording taken from inside the studio where we made most of the album in an effort to gently place the listener back in their aural surroundings. Whilst we of course hope that some people will listen to the whole album, we also appreciate that people experience music in so many different ways these days. If some people only ever hear our songs as isolated singles, that is okay with us!
One of the clear influences of this album is 90s R&B. Was this a conscious effort going into it? Were you speaking to that nostalgia a lot of us feel for that time and music?
Both 90’s R&B and nostalgia are huge influences on Elly’s life and songwriting. So yes, exploring a personal relationship to the past through musical nostalgia is definitely a significant part of this album. In making this album, we wanted to explore ways in which the past could be reframed and reinterpreted – this plays out lyrically in songs such as “AUR”, but also definitely in stylistic and production choices, sometimes subtly, and sometimes not so subtlety.
Part of what makes this album so fascinating is the range in vocal styles. Can you talk a little bit about the musical backgrounds of the band members and how that played into not sticking to one vocal style?
(Elspeth) I think as a vocalist and songwriter I’m really into using all the tools at my disposal to tell a story. That might mean digitally manipulating my voice post-production, but when I’m writing songs I’m always thinking about how melody and tone etc work to reflect the lyrics; it’s just a core part of the process for me. But I guess it means I rarely stick to one style. I studied jazz at uni so think that’s always been a strong influence on the way I approach melody and harmony. Then combined with Charlie’s approach and writing processes, we often have quite a wide stylistic range across Huntly material. I think the focus of telling a story and trying to create and convey some kind of emotional moment is what holds it together – and on this album that was about shifting perspectives on time and memory. Which really lends itself to exploring a wide range of styles and effects. (Charlie) I think the difference between both our vocal styles is like the secret weapon we can use to convey that sense of shifting perspective and high-contrast drama.
There are also so many kinds of electronic music used throughout the album. Were there certain styles that you knew you wanted to include from the beginning or was it more organic in how you used them in songs?
Individually we definitely had ideas about styles of electronic music we wanted to experiment with, in the context of Huntly. Andy has a strong affinity for drum & bass which definitely influenced a number of the beats on the record. We always found though that if we tried to force a style onto a song it would sound really awkward and out of place. From the conception of a song it was generally pretty clear what style of production it would need.
Photo credit: Phebe Schmidt
