At/All change the ‘Frequency’ with new track

Every weekday, DIY’s new music know-it-all Neu brings you one essential new release to get obsessed with. Today’s Neu Pick comes from At/All.

The unexpected sound of summer 2016? Ominous synths. In the last month, the soundtrack for Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’ has gone stratospheric, pulsating synths forming an unlikely match for stretched out days. Melbourne trio At/All share a similar spirit to the makers of that soundtrack, S U R V I V E. They also specialise in forming new tricks out of moody electronic tones. The difference is in how they then filter this skill into a gorgeous pop song.

Several of these help make up the group’s debut album ‘Sun Dog’, which comes out 29th August. On ‘Frequency’, they channel their finest sci-fi leanings into a synth-pop masterclass. Each move has a new purpose, like how Lucy Roleff’s vocals swing from deep to high like a pendulum, or how the song builds from gloomy verses into a warped club climax. Funnily enough, there’s a reason for that. According to Pascal Babare, the track started off with a “Eurovision-esque four bar trance progression.” He wanted to scrap the whole thing, “but thankfully, we persisted with it, as now I really like it.”

Invention lines every seam on ‘Frequency’, and it’s a running theme on their fantastic first work.