Off the Edge of the Earth and Into Forever, Forever, the title of Art vs. Science’s newest album, sounds a little like a challenge… like maybe the boys got together one day and were like “let’s see if anyone calls us on this”. Of course, it’s fitting, because the trio’s new contribution to the dance music scene is a sonic adventure, with a clever balance of introspection and humour. Now they’re out of the studio, Art vs. Science are ready to take their new tunes on the road. Including a stop right here in Canberra!

“The name of the album is actually spelled out in the bridge of the song Bongo Plan. For the longest time we were joking about having an overly complicated spelling section in a song, like in Over and Over by Hot Chip, where you can never figure out what they’re saying or the rhythm of it. So that was kind of a working title for the album, and we were like this is definitely too long isn’t it, nobody is going to want to say this out loud but it stuck, and we didn’t change our mind,” said the group.

“One song, Diana, was written three years ago, so that was technically the start. As for the others; we were jamming a lot at the Bondi Pavillion. It’s a really funny space, it looks like a high school jam room. There’s always kids classes going on, and Capoeira in the next room over. We recorded a lot of it there, then realised it didn’t sound very good and went and recorded it in a place called Oceanic Studios in Brookvale.”

Art vs. Science are by no means strangers to the live scene, or Canberra for that matter, and it’s clear that their new show will be as fresh as ever.

“Playing a festival stage is like the Michael Bay of playing live, whereas a solo show is like the humanism of Spielberg. There’s a lot of interaction and jokes and stuff that can get lost on a festival stage. We’re just working out what we want to do for the new tour. Obviously we want to incorporate some new tracks, and rearrange the set and such.”

It’s not all fun and games however. The trio have been outspoken critics of Sydney’s new lockout laws, and with similar ideas now being floated for Canberra, we thought we’d give the artists a chance to weigh in…

“I don’t know Canberra as well as Sydney, but to me it’s a medieval solution to the problem, like trying to put the house fire out by knocking down the whole house. I was trying to explain it to my Grandma the other day, and really what it comes down to is… places that make their profit margins at those times can’t afford to be open if they can’t trade during those hours. So they shut, and a place that you couldn’t go to after 1.30am, you now can’t go to ever. That’s the ultimate outcome of the policy.”