There’s something about Australia that produces beautiful music. Not sure if its the vast open skies or if there’s something about it being basically a giant island, but these Aussies really know how to capture a groove.
Dance fans are already in love with Flume, Flight Facilities, Empire of the Sun, among others, but allow Billboard Dance to introduce you to a new obsession from down under: Gypsy & the Cat.
This indie dance duo is a big deal in its home country (which is also its own continent!). They were nominated by ruling youth radio station Triple J for an “Unearthed” award when the band made its break in 2010. They opened for Australian dance pop queen Kylie Minogue, which is like opening for Madonna basically. They’ve got a glorious handle on lush composition and feel-good summer waves on a level that is completely lovable, and the duo’s third album Virtual Islands is available for you to listen to exclusively right here.
“We wrote this album over four years,” Gypsy & The Cat says in an email interview. “For us, it captures an exploratory time in our songwriting and production. We had spent some time in Japan and that rubbed off on us creatively in different ways. We wanted each song to feel a bit different to the next, but for it to feel as a record like it was a journey and still interconnected. Some of the songs are immediate, but others are pieces you’ll chip away at with each listen and find different sounds and hooks that you may not have heard the first time. We’re extremely proud of it.”
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There certainly are a lot of vibes at play on the album. “I Took A Wrong Turn” opens the LP in a clamor of percussion and hypnotic voices, almost as if you walked into the busy streets of Tokyo, then breaks into the dream-wave sensuality of “Give & Take.”
Lead single “Inside Your Mind” has a definite disco funk groove balanced by grounded acoustic guitar rhythms. The high-pitched choral vocals are serving up serious Bee Gees realness (who, by the way, are also from Australia). That is followed immediately by the hymnal-esque opening of “Odyssey of the Streets,” which eventually descends into a sort of symphonic electronic adventure.
It’s 10 tracks make for a real fun ride. If you can’t hop a plan to Australia, you can at least listen get lost on this Virtual Islands and pretend.