Flight Facilities are back after 3 years in this exclusive FAULT chat

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
|In Uncategorized
|By FAULT Magazine
This is your first track in three years since the album ‘Down to Earth’ – what have you both been up to in between? 
 
The Orchestra shows we did with the MSO and the SSO were incredibly time consuming, as well as all the touring we had to do surrounding them. Down To Earth seemed to keep us on the road for quite a while. Couple that with the writing of new music for ourselves, and the collaborations with a few other artists. It’s been a busy few years. The frequent flyer miles are alive and well.
 
 
The new single ‘Arty Boy’ features Emma Louise who you frequently collaborate with, what makes you all so musically compatible?
More than anything, our sense of humour. Even if we’re not working with Emma, we’re having fun with her. She’s one of the funniest people we know, and constantly makes us laugh. Having that kind of relationship makes any studio environment super relaxed. Those are the best kind of conditions to work under.
What inspires your unique sound? 
The old and the new. We try to create a marriage between the music from the past, and references from today that inspire us. Trying to recreate something specific, piece by piece, can often make it sound like a boring knock off. The broad range of references we have, anywhere from classical music, to disco, even to television themes, definitely contribute to our music in a huge way. We have to think that our consideration for the obscure, but our love for pop, is helping define our sound.
 

The documentary style video features Shirin and Nasser – What inspired you both to create the video?

Well luckily this is an area we can leave to professional teams of directors and producers. All we had to do was give the thumbs up to the idea that JÜNGLINGE pitched to us. This was one of those rare occasions in which we went with the first idea we heard, because we loved it so much. But the inspiration behind our agreeing to the pitch was much the same as the reason for shooting the video: because there was such a great story to be told. People don’t necessarily realise that it’s all entirely true.

 

Christine Spangberg created the artwork for Arty Boy, did you expect her to interpret the song in that way to produce the cover?

It seemed fitting to have such a prominent artist make something unique for a song called ‘Arty Boy’. We were familiar with her work before asking her, so we had a basic idea of her style, and completely trusted her ability to come up with something perfect as a cover. We’re so happy to have it represent the song now. Someone even went so far as to get it tattooed to their arm.
 
 
You first began in Sydney in 2009 mixing other artists songs, where were you when you first heard your own music played in public? 
 
We’re not sure where we were when we first heard it. But Crave You wound up on a television ad in Australia in 2010 for a racing carnival, and that’s where our parents first heard it. That was the moment for them that they realised everything was doing okay, and that we weren’t completely lost in the world. We reckon that was a sigh of relief for everyone.
 

You have collaborated with some great people, Kylie Minogue, Reggie Watts and Bishop Nehru, who else would be a dreams to work with?

Whether it be just to write the song, or to sing it, Barry Gibb or Billy Joel would be amazing. Jamiroquai or Drake would definitely be on the dream list. We remember a few years ago talking about how great it would be to get Will Smith too. It’s hard to escape the nostalgia of the artists and songs you listened to in early high school.
 
 

What are your favourite songs from the first album?

Waking Bliss and Merimbula are each our favourite songs. They’re a little more personal and representative of the two of us as individuals. They’re also totally indulgent instrumental songs, which meant that we made them based on a sole intention of enjoying them, with no consideration of needing to appeal to an audience.
 
Do you work easily as a producing duo? Any creative differences or is it smooth sailing?
We know our strengths and weaknesses, so it’s nice to be able to lean on each other for help in the areas we feel we need it. There are always ups and downs, but the argumentative sides in us only ever come out when we’re passionate about the vision of a song, and what would help it best succeed. Creative differences always exist, but the key to healthy production relationship is being flexible in your expectations of a final result. 
 
 
How does Australian culture inspire your tracks?
 
Australia is so critical of anything, that it’s pretty good at keeping artists level headed. It’s also its own version of quality control. We’ve found other countries like America can be unconditionally supportive of artists, and while that’s a beautiful trait to have, it can sometimes lead to creatives thinking every stroke is God’s gift. Australians don’t mind telling you something sucks.
 

What’s the craziest experience you’ve both had on tour?

When we played in Columbia in about 2011, the power cut when we were two songs in. When they tried to move our stage closer to a different generator, it collapsed with us on it. Someone lost a finger and another guy hurt his leg. We didn’t go back on after that so we basically flew thousands of miles around the world, to DJ for two songs.
 
What have you got coming up this year? Is a new album on the horizon?
 
We’re in the ball park of having enough content for a new album, but we’re looking at other ways of releasing it. The industry has changed so much that we’re favouring the release of singles again. The consistent release of music worked so well for us the first time, we’re considering following that path once more. It’s certainly easier for people to digest our music that way. It’s a weekly talk with us at the moment, and the true answer is, “we don’t know”.
 
Thinking about the future of the electronic music scene, what do you both hope to see? 
 
In general we hope to see people creating something new. Electronic music is one of those industries where you don’t need more than a computer to create it. So a lot of artists get in the habit of following each other and making the same songs. It’s great to see trailblazers like Rufus or Disclosure setting a mature example for the possibilities of pop crossed with dance, while not having to resort to EDM as so many others have. 
 

Who are your favourite upcoming artists out there that we should check out?

We always used to answer this question with ‘Client Liaison’, but theyre are not exactly upcoming anymore, because they’ve just played some huge shows back here in Australia. But we can’t stress enough how much the rest of the world needs to know about them. They embody everything that’s great about Australia, while making some insanely catchy hooks. If you can attend one of their shows without letting go and having a great time, I’m not so sure we’d get along.