by joann snavely
photo by xingerxanger
Australian electric duo Cosmo’s Midnight consisting of twins Cosmo and Patrick Liney, is hot off the release of their third full-length album Stop Thinking Start Feeling — an album that reminds listeners to ignore the stresses of the present and explore the magic of music — specifically their music. With their biggest world tour yet kicking off last week, Unclear got the chance to take some time and discuss their new album, tour, and the past, present, and future of the twin-duos music.
How did your journey with music begin — where did it all start?
Cosmo’s Midnight: “It started around high school when our older brother downloaded some music software to make mixes. We became obsessed with it looking over his shoulder and started making terrible little songs completely sucked into this new craft we'd never done before.”
With your new album, are there any new approaches you made sound?
Cosmo’s Midnight: “We really wanted to look back at everything we’d released until now and look for a common thread that we could really hone in on for this record. However, as the album title suggests, we really wanted to rediscover the naive exciting feeling of discovery that we had when we started writing our first songs. So, we really spent a lot of time jamming and only really completing and finessing songs that felt like they captured a moment or a spark of creativity.”
What musicians were the biggest inspirations behind the making of the album?
Cosmo’s Midnight: “There are almost too many to mention, but Fleetwood Mac, Prince, Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers, The Stone Roses, Soulwax, Fatboy Slim, and Nile Rodgers just to name a few of the artists we were listening to as we wrote this record.”
On the note of your sound, what is one word you'd use to describe your sound on the new album?
Cosmo’s Midnight: “It's so hard to wrap it all up in one word, but I’d hope the music sounds like we had fun writing it, because we really did enjoy writing this record. So, I hope the album sounds like excitement, or at least that it’s felt out rather than curated.”
Which song on the album was the most challenging to create?
Cosmo’s Midnight: “I’d say ‘Eating Heartache’ was one of the harder ones to write, we had so many different interpretations of the bass and drum interaction, and we really just wanted to have something felt super locked in. It’s not that it was super hard to get to that point, just that it took a little more experimentation, which is also one of the most fun things about writing. Seeing all the different ways you can realize the potential of a song.”
What are you hoping for fans to take out of the album?
Cosmo’s Midnight: “I hope that from start to finish people get lost in the music, lose themselves to dance. This record is about putting all your critical or cerebral traits on the shelf and being absorbed in the groove, the experiential side of music. I think as writers it can be difficult to listen to music with no thoughts, purely as a fan and no pre-conceptions. We tried to listen to as much music that just sounds so original, timeless, or exciting, and we hope our fans feel any of those things after putting our record away.”
As a twin, I must ask, what is the best part of performing as a twin duo?
Cosmo’s Midnight: “I think it's just really nice to have someone you’re comfortable with on stage and also in the studio. You never feel like the burden rests solely on you to write or perform, being with our friends in our live band makes it even better, touring with our drummer Hassett and our guitarist Timi Temple is so effortless, we have the best time on the road.”
If you could each only listen to one album ever again what would it be?
Cosmo’s Midnight: “Right now, I’m obsessed with the new Mk.gee record Two Star & The Dream Police, as I’m sure many people are. His new album has such great musical choices, direction, and conviction. I love listening to records where it sounds like the artist is so sure of themselves and their decisions, the music just sounds so thought out and realized to completion.”
With the release of your single “Telephone,” who inspired the single the most?
Cosmo’s Midnight: “I'd say this record was inspired by turn of the millennium acid house, through the lens of crunchy instrumental records like Soulwax.”
You've toured in some pretty iconic venues. If you could play a show at any venue, what would it be?
Cosmo’s Midnight: “We've been really lucky to play some pretty amazing venues through our career, but I would love to play at Printworks in London, it's such a beautiful space and some of my favorite artists have played there.”
Since making music, what has been the most gratifying experience so far?
Cosmo’s Midnight: “Even though we've done things I’d never had dreamed of honestly, I'd say there is nothing more gratifying than being able to have done it this long and put all of my energy and time into music as a career. There is nothing I’d rather do and we're so lucky to be able to call this a job!”