Zonoscope (noun): 1. Cut Copy’s third full-length record, released in February 2011.
2. A device which allows us to fleetingly visit a place in the distant future, a rhythmic and hypnotic world where electronic and organic sounds strike a euphoric balance, a place where dancing is paramount.
Music can be transportative taking the listener to new sonic landscapes far from reality. When approaching their third record Zonoscope, Melbourne four-piece Cut Copy set out to do just that.
‘Part of the record was [about] creating its own world,’ explained Cut Copy drummer Mitchell Scott, ‘[A Zonoscope] was something that I guess reflected a window into the world that we were attempting to create.’
The album cover-art, a photomontage piece by Japanese artist Tsunehisa Kimura – is probably the closest thing you’ll get to a visualisation of that world. The image shows New York City skyscrapers being shrouded by the torrents of a giant waterfall.
‘I guess for us we weren’t reading it as apocalyptic vision, or that the city was being destroyed,’ Scott clarified, ‘It was something about the way the two things co-existed, in what seemed to be a fairly peaceful way, that spoke to us about what we were trying to get at with the record: the conversion of something very synthetic and something organic.’
It’s clear when listening to Zonoscope that Cut Copy felt confident enough to experiment with a diverse range of influences and sounds, from disco rhythms to vintage synthesisers to jangling, almost psychedelic guitars. On the opener alone, the soaring Need You Now, the band kick off with what sounds like someone tinkering with glass bottles before adding a wave of synths and working up to an ecstatic climax featuring an African-American soul choir. And while all this may sound very eclectic in print, on record it sounds harmonious and familiar, as if this was how music sounded all along.
‘Strange things happen in the studio,’ laughed Scott when asked about the recording process.
After the band returned from their two-year world tour in late 2009, they rented a Melbourne warehouse studio space and began work on Zonoscope: ‘We had a lot of time in our studio to make the record. The idea was to set ourselves up in a space that felt really comfortable and to find out what the products of that would be; create a good environment for us to experiment.’
To assist with mixing, they enlisted Atlanta-based producer Ben Allen, known for his recent work with indie legends Animal Collective, Deerhunter and Gnarls Barkley, as well as hip-hop heavyweights such as P.Diddy. ‘[He] was someone who seemed like he’d know where we were coming from but have a grasp of something completely different,’ said Scott. ‘A lot of hip hop is based around grooves and rhythm – and that just seemed perfect for us.’
Cut Copy’s last record, In Ghost Colours, propelled the band to international indie-dance superstar status, even taking out #4 on Pitchfork’s coveted Top Albums of 2008 list. But on the eve of their new release, the band don’t seem to be feeling pressure to live up to expectations.
‘[We’re] feeling really excited, really stoked that people will be able to hear some new music from us and that we get back on the rollercoaster of going out and touring for the release of the record.’ The band has also been putting the finishing touches on a revamped live show: ‘Laneway’s going to be our reveal of that show. We feel like our live show has been a really fundamental part of who we are as a band – it’s something that’s really important to us and we wanted to try to find the time to even do a little bit more with it.’
Perth Laneway (February 12) is one of a handful of Australian tour dates on the books before the band head over to Europe to commence their world tour. But one thing’s for sure: wherever Cut Copy are on the globe, they’re taking their rapturous, rhythm-fuelled, future-disco world with them, just don’t forget your Zonoscope.
Zonoscope is out February 4 through Modular Recordings.
Andrew Searle
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