With its overt nod to climate change, Cut Copy’s sixth album Freeze, Melt is their most contemplative to date. Danny Turner delves into its making

Danny Turner

Hailing from Melbourne, Australia electro-pop veterans Cut Copy were established almost 20 years ago by former graphic designer Dan Whitford. The band’s debut album Bright like Neon Love (2004) flew under the radar, but the follow-up In Ghost Colours (2008) truly signalled their intentions, hitting No. 1 in their homeland and attracting global critical acclaim.

The group took a more radical approach to their latest release, Freeze, Melt. Conceived by Whitford in Copenhagen, demos were file-shared to globally dispersed band members Tim Hoey (guitars), Ben Browning (bass), and Mitchell Scott (drums). The collective then regrouped at Melbourne’s Park Orchards Studios to complete the album.

Going full circle, Whitford and crew returned to Scandinavia and Christoffer Berg‘s Svenska Grammofon Studios in Gothenberg to mix. The result is a stripped back, emotive and more electronic-oriented collection of songs, drenched in warm layers of monochromatic synths, ambient textures and Whitford’s mellow, reflective vocals.

You’ve been compared to bands like Daft Punk, Fleetwood Mac or The Human League. Is that flattering or lazy?

Dan Whitford: “Both. I love all of those artists - they’re part of the cannon of electronic music, but in my mind we represent something a bit more than that. Journalists will often hear synths and an emotional chorus on a song and make the most obvious comparison, but our influences go a lot deeper. I started collecting records in the mid-to-late ’90s and my research crosses so many genres that a lot of different sounds infiltrate our music.”

The new album, Freeze, Melt was conceived in Copenhagen. Were you on a writing retreat?

“It was more of a lifestyle decision. Despite touring the world with the band, I’d lived in Melbourne all my life and wanted to be based somewhere else for a while. Europe’s appealing as you can jump on a plane and be in any number of countries within an hour and my girlfriend got a job in Copenhagen. I barely took any gear with me, just my laptop, a soundcard, microphone, MIDI keyboard and a guitar, but it wasn’t long before my electronic gear addiction kicked in and I was scouring the second-hand stores for things to make weird noises with. That was the beginning of me starting this album with a whole new palette of sounds.”