Sydney band Key Out release their second album, "Anthropomorphia", on Half A Cow Records, on Friday 26 June 2020. Anthropomorhia is a bedroom recording featuring acoustic guitars and ageing synthesizers, toy percussion and drums, sequencers and vocal harmonies.
Tomatrax caught up with Paddy Haid to ask a few questions.
I had a bunch of demos a few years ago and asked a few pals if they would help me record. The lineup has never been static - we've expanded and contracted as people moved cities and have had other projects on.
Where did the name Key Out come from?It's an escapist idea with a bit of a tragic animal rights origin story. I was following the work of a group called the Non-Human Rights Project who were petitioning for the release of imprisoned
chimps from roadside zoos in the US. One of the stories they would tell was about a chimp called Booee, who learned American Sign Language and would sign 'Key. Out' to people from the cage he was in.
You're just about to release your second album, how does it feel to have it finished and ready to go?Really great! We worked really hard on it and are proud of the results. We've got a bit of an uncertain landscape with the lockdown - we can't tour about and play to people to share songs at the moment, but the scene has been really supportive. I think a lot of people's focus has moved back to the local and community which has been encouraging.
The process took a little longer that we had thought it would, but it wasn't difficult. We recorded it ourselves at home, so it was a tradeoff between the hi-fi you get in a studio and the time think about where we were going and to experiment at home.
The album features ageing synthesizers, and toy percussion, what was the inspiration behind these unconventional apparatus?That came out of the home experimentation. We started recording these with live full band takes - real drums and electric guitars - but they shifted as we started overdubbing. We added acoustics
and muted electrics and liked the space, and started playing around with drum machines and different percussion. We didn't really have an end point in mind, but just kept trying things and if we thought something sounded better using a different approach, we kept it.
Where did the title Anthropomorphia come from?All the songs are about or written through animals and the suburbs, so it's sort of owning that anthropomorphism. The inspiration for the approach came from a book called 'Only the Animals' by Ceridwen Dovey.
What made you pick Chorus as the lead single?It's our most uptempo song, and seemed the best candidate for a video an iso-robot video! It's also pretty different to our last record and is the first track we sequenced 909 drums to.
What was the inspiration behind the album's cover?That was put together by kersti birgitta, who I met when we played with her partner's band Like Foxes in Canberra last year. She had done these super pictures of flying foxes for a fundraiser after the fires that I really liked. I told her about the album concept, sent a couple of pictures through, and she dreamed it up from there.
Not initially. We just kept editing pieces while completing the album, and if something wasn't needed it was cut. The song 'Fire' was literally cut in half during the mixing process.
Do you ever listen to your own music?Not so much once it's recorded. You need to listen to it so much while thinking, arranging and recording. Plus there's so much better stuff out there!
What music do you listen to?Today's rotation has included Sachet - Nets, Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud, Melee - Dogleg, Bon Iver - i,I, Solange - When I get home.
What do you have planned once the album is out?We'd love to play some songs for people, but haven't worked out how that will be yet. But we're thinking!
Check out Key Out's Facebook page to find out more!
