Sydney trio Seekae have returned to the fore, and I couldn’t be more excited. Turbine Blue is Seekae’s first new tune since The Worry came out in 2014.
I caught the band live much earlier this year, during which they performed a couple of new tracks. They promised new music soon, but months went by, frontman Alex Cameron’s been busy with his lush solo project, and we hadn’t heard anything more. Until now.
The atmosphere is completely different to what I expected, although many of Seekae’s most identifiable instrumental and effects elements still make it undeniably Seekae. While the downtempo pace is nothing new for the band, overall there’s a softness, an openness and vulnerability that feels different. Emotionally revealing lyrics, plucky flickers and sparkling synths might catch some Seekae devotees off guard at first, but it’ll no doubt draw in new fans who may have found some of their weirder, more challenging stuff a little hard to digest.
As an aside, it’s interesting to consider the fact that a band more known for its more obscure, often experimental output, is taking a risk by releasing a softer song like Turbine Blue; typically the risk would occur the other way around.
I love this track; it certainly signifies the next chapter for the Sydney trio and I’m excited to see where this will go. Presumably, this is the first track from their next album – will it be gentler overall? Could this track be the reflective end of a dramatic story arc? Or perhaps the beginning?
The track was written and recorded in Berlin. According to a press release, the vocals were recorded “after eating pizza microwaves at a petrol station and carried back to the studio through the rain.” Now, I’m not sure if there’s any scientific correlation between petrol station pizza and soulful electronic tunes, but regardless of causation, the result is damn beautiful.
Turbine Blue is out now via Future Classic.
Image: Supplied