HAILER
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Thursday, June 6
Yours & Owls
Tickets: $10 at the door
Psychedelic is a word that comes up a lot in descriptions of Sydney band Hailer.
Whether the word is paired with pop, rock or alternative, they can't seem to escape the tag.
Hailer guitarist and vocalist Phil Orr says that's not a bad thing, in fact it's something they embrace, but, to him, psychedelic music is about more than just experimenting with unusual sounds.
"When you see "psychedelic rock" you think of drony techs, fuzzy, repetitive non-verse and chorus music, but I look at it as literally letting things go away from the real and into some kind of infinity, some kind of space that's a bit dreamy and elevated," he says.
"There can be psychedelic country music, it's all about that feeling of being elevated from the mundane, from the real, just chasing those infinity thoughts."
The band's varied influences - from folk artists such as Bob Dylan to country music crooners to more modern electronic music - contribute to their unique sound, but Orr says even that has changed since they first started playing together as uni students nine years ago.
He says the band's second album, Another Way, which was only released last week, isn't as chilled out as their first offering just over two years ago.
"It's more of an upfront mix, it's a little bit more present and edgy, it has a little more tension," he says.
He thinks there is a bigger "jam" element present on this album, which embodies the way the boys perform during their live shows.
While some of their improvisation at gigs stems from not having with them all the instruments that feature on the album, much is just because they like to get caught in the moment.
"We don't play it precisely the same every time, we leave ourselves open to chasing or shaping a musical moment wherever it's going," Orr says.
"It's a way of keeping it fresh."
Considering the album was finished more than six months ago and has been in the works for more than a year, keeping it exciting is something Hailer are keen to do. Orr says the songs themselves were written towards the end of 2011 and although they started work on the album soon after, it came to a halt when their guitarist and sound engineer broke his shoulder quite badly.
The album was then mixed and mastered by producer Nick Stumpf, who is based in New York, meaning ideas and thoughts about the tunes had to be done solely online.
While Orr says it was hard to let someone from outside the band give their opinion on songs they had been working closely on for some time, he thinks the album is better for it.
Once their Australian tour wraps up, Hailer is heading to the States for three months to try to garner an international audience.
This will be their first trip overseas, but Orr says Another Way is already getting plenty of play on more than 100 college radio stations.