INTROSPECT - Midnight Sun
The World Leaders in GIGADJENT
Written by: Jimmy Wah - Sense Music Media
The name INTROSPECT conjures up images of someone looking inside themselves free from neurotic presuppositions… but rather as a bystander observing their own subjective being. At least, that’s how I felt after listening to Midnight Sun. Described as ‘Etherial Djent’ on Triple j Unearthed, these guys take influences from progressive tech-metal and fuse them with ambient soundscapes led by elegant vocals to weave a sonic tapestry that seems to carry itself through a complex wave of easy listening. Think PERIPHERY meets ENYA… or maybe TESSERACT meets EVANESCENCE… SPIRITBOX meets MASSIVE ATTACK? Whatever way you look at it we’re left with the same question, how is it exactly that INTROSPECT can use the explosive syncopated rhythms of prog-metal and incorporate them into a cosmic wave of cautiously optimistic ambiance? Why don’t we find out.
The Interview
I had the chance to sit down with one of INTROSPECT’s guitarists, craftsmen and all-round musician ‘Loko’, a 29-year-old high school music teacher speaking to me from his office in Dural, North Western Sydney.
Pictured: Lachlan ‘Loko’ McDonald - INTROSPECT
Photographer: Jimmy Wah - Sense Music Media
Where does the name ‘Loko’ come from?
I’m actually music teacher at a school so it was originally just used as a name to use for social media so the students wouldn’t find me. Hence the weird spelling.
Oh, here I was thinking that you were a die-hard COAL CHAMBER fan and really loved the song Loco (laughs).
(laughs) Nah nothing that special, just short for ‘Lachlan’.
What bands have you played in before INTROSPECT?
I played in a band called WOLVES IN FASHION from 2014 until our last gig in late 2018. Our drummer left the band in 2017 and I jumped on drums for a little while so we could figure out what our next trajectory was going to be. It wasn’t really a decided thing but it just fizzled out after a while and we all went our separate ways. I still speak to the guys all the time and they’re all awesome dudes but it just petered out. Around that time, I was doing some writing with Jamie (INTROSPECT’s other guitarist) and so it just went from one band to the other.
It’s easy to see why you’re a music teacher when you’re able to easily go from guitar to drums like you did with WOLVES IN FASHION.
Yeah, so drums were actually my first instrument when I was growing up playing in the school band and not to flex any more but I actually studied saxophone at Uni (laughs), so that was the instrument I really chose to pursue. I like to think of myself as a ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’ which has been really handy over the years because it means I’ve been able to write and record and play different instruments. So yeah.
That’s one of the things that I notice with a lot of musicians and creative professionals these days is that they all have several irons in the fire, which is what you need to be able to get your work out there.
It’s true, yeah, I think its important for creatives to have ‘all the irons in the fire’, like you say – but for musicians, its being able to understand how to write for particular instruments. A lot of people play the instruments but don’t know how to actually write for them, so being a drummer makes it handy to write drums when we’re programming or doing demos. It’s the same with piano – not that we write anything too tricky for piano but for drums it’s especially important cos Hugo our drummer is an absolute machine. He’s only just turned 18 and he’s better than I ever could have been on drums when I was that age (laughs). I send him drum demos and he’s like ‘yeah that’s a good beat… but let’s try it this way instead’. We get 90% of the way and then Hugo adds that extra freaky stuff he does. So that’s pretty handy.
So I suppose that musical diversity across instruments also comes in handy for being able to write guitars to the drums too.
Yeah, that kind of connection helps with the structure and texture and getting all those things right, which is really important, I think. We all have our strengths in the band as well. Jamie’s a really good writer, I can arrange and I can help write, Hugo does the drums and Flick (Felicity) has an amazing managerial focus. She’s an amazing singer but she’s done SO much work on the managerial side of things that she’s pretty much our manager which is really cool.
Pictured: Felicity Jayne - INTROSPECT
Photographer: Jimmy Wah - Sense Music Media
So where do you draw your influences from?
So my all-time favourite band ever, is DREAM THEATER. I remember the day that I heard DREAM THEATER for the first time which was around year 7. I heard the solo to As I Am and I just lost my brain. I was like ‘How on Earth can someone play like that?’ and ever since then it’s been an onward trajectory. Before that, there was a lot of classic rock like LED ZEPP, AC/DC and a lot of really good classic bands that my parents introduced me to like DIRE STRAITS and PINK FLOYD. So that was pretty much my childhood, then moving on from there and getting into DREAM THEATER I continued on the slippery slope of metal (laughs) and once I got the taste for heavier stuff – even though DREAM THEATER’s not that heavy – I just kept going and then I was into SLIPKNOT and PARKWAY DRIVE in the late 00s. Then it kind of just grew from there. So I’m all into metal and I think that progressive metal has been the one that’s resonated the most with me over the years…
… I think it has for all of us (laughs)
(laughs) yeah especially for my own learning and everything I do now, prog is all I think about. It’s how I learnt to be a musician as well. I used sit down and really try to figure out and understand what’s going on because it’s so technical. I can’t listen to music without trying to figure out what’s going on, so all the simple stuff – not to say it’s not valuable – I listen to once and I understand what’s going on, whereas I listen to a 20 minute DREAM THEATER song and I’m captivated the entire time. So that’s kinda where it started for me.
The metal side of things is definitely what I picked up on, with guitar tones that reminded me of PROTEST THE HERO with a very djent kind of vibe.
Yeah, that’s something that came along later I think, for me especially being influenced by djent. As soon as I started listening to PERIPHERY, that started me on a slippery slope. As soon as I heard PERIPHERY I was like ‘Woooah, this is different but I LOVE IT!’ and then I got into TESSERACT and PROTEST and all these incredible bands in this whole extra genre that’s been created on the back of this OTHER genre. So yeah, we’ve definitely got those influences.
Pictured: Hugo Rumore - INTROSPECT
Photographer: Jimmy Wah - Sense Music Media
I suppose being from Sydney you’re familiar with SLEEPMAKESWAVES?
YEAH! Absolutely, love those guys.
Your ambient sound particularly reminds me a lot of them and your drummer Hugo hits some of the syncopated grooves that you get with that post-rock style.
Yeah, I actually went to school with Otto (SLEEPMAKESWAVES guitarist), he probably doesn’t know it. He was a bit older but I remember seeing him around at school and when I saw him play I thought ‘This guy’s awesome’. Then I saw them (SLEEPMAKESWAVES) supporting KARNIVOOL in 2012 I was like ‘OMG I think that’s Otto!’ (laughs) so yeah, he probably doesn’t know who I am but that’s fine.
I noticed that you have a fairly high production quality in your clips. Do you have someone that you go to for most of your clips?
Well, you see here’s the thing, when I talk about strengths of everyone in the band, Jamie has a masters in cinematography from AFTRS (Australian Film, Television and Radio School) in Sydney. So he is such a machine – I keep saying that! But that’s cos everyone’s such a machine (laughs) – but yeah he is such an incredible director of videos with an eye for detail and ability to see what others don’t in cinematography. All of our productions have been just Jamie and a huge back-log of people that he’s worked with in the past through his degree, along with some other people he has contact with. So he does most of the production and all of the editing and colour grading. He’s an absolute monster at it which is great to have. To be fair, we do pay everyone that we get to do our videos but in the past, if there’s been something that we’ve just done really quick, he’s called in favours from mates that he’s done work for before. This time around we’ve definitely spent some money on the video clips though, which has had a great result.
Pictured: Jamie McVicker - INTROSPECT
Photographer: Jimmy Wah - Sense Music Media
What about one of your more recent clips like Mjolnir? I really liked that one.
Yeah, that was a BIG day. We filmed that at The Good Egg Studio in Riverstone. I’d heard of The Good Egg Studio from other gigs that I’d seen there – NORTHLANE did a gig there in early 2017 – and I remember seeing it and thinking ‘Man that’s a really cool space’. I didn’t actually know it was in Riverstone and when Jamie told us, I realised that’s just down the road from where I currently am. It was a really random spot but such an amazing space in a big infinity room. Jamie went all out and got a big crew in. We had lighting technicians, we had gaffers, we had a runner, we had a makeup artist. Everything was done. There was a call sheet, there was catering, everything was to the T and we had such an amazing crew. I’m so grateful to work with all those people but it was such a big day. It was really fun but by the end of it I couldn’t move my head because I was headbanging so much from doing so many takes (laughs)… I had to keep telling myself that it was gonna be ok and it would all be worth it in the end, which it was.
That sounds awesome man. How would you describe your sound to someone that hasn’t heard it before?
Man (long pause)… I don’t wanna say like 8 different genres (laughs) … OK this is a term that Jamie’s trying to coin… GIGADJENT (laughs).
(laughs) I dig it man, that’s cool!
Yeah, so it has an element of djent but there are different avenues of sounds that pull influences from everywhere. It’s more just the waves of emotion and feeling that we bring out in the songs. There’s anger, there’s hate, there’s sorrow, there’s hope… there’s all these different things from different influences we had growing up. So when we say gigadjent it means it has those djent elements and all the stuff that we love about music tied into it as well.
Cool man, well I’ll definitely get that phrase in big bold caps when I write up the article (laughs)
(laughs) Yeah well ‘gigadjent’ is probably the shitpost of the day but in all seriousness if we were gonna describe it to someone, progmetal is definitely the genre that we’d fit into.
Finally, tell us about the EP that you’re about to release.
Ok well, Midnight Sun is the name of the EP and it’s a 6-track EP with the first track being a shorter intro track and 5 other tracks, 2 that we’ve released and 3 unreleased tracks. The last track is one of the unreleased tracks and the longest song on the EP but it definitely has one of – wait no – it definitely has my favourite moment of the entire EP at the very end. It’s a bit sad that it’s at the very end of the EP but it’s definitely worth it. I can’t wait for you to hear it.
Pictured: Luke Turner, Hugo Rumore, Felicity Jayne, Jamie McVicker + Lachlan McDonald - INTROSPECT
Photographer: Amy Benjamin
EP Review
Midnight Sun opens with ‘Cosmic Arena’, ambient tones that lay the background for narration by an overwhelmingly present voice. Creating the illusion of conscience, the voice reassuringly guides the listener through a set of irrefutable observations that describe our unique place in the universe. Tonal layers are built upon with simple yet hopeful piano phrases to create a sense of bewilderment and pave the way for the journey that ensues. With cosmic glitches that sparkle like stars, the piano resolves its phrasing as the voice paints a powerful message of our responsibility to preserve what we have.
This feels like a necessary introduction for the gritty bass tones of ‘Mjolnir’, the first full length song and arguably the most explosive on the EP. Just like the hammer of Thor in Norse mythology, the song crushes the ambiance with heavy, powerful riffs that takes full advantage of the band’s ability to build complex syncopated rhythms; as the guitars and drums dance around each other in short, staccato notes that could be confused with morse code. The divinity of Thor’s hammer juxtaposes it’s destructive power as do the vocals of Felicity Jayne which enter to mark a change in tempo that hooks the listener. The body of the music has the ability to maintain it’s heaviness but also to dissipate into ambient bass tones accompanied by keys and vocal harmonies. The cautious optimism sounds hopeful until it gets shattered once again with the destructive vocals of Liam McDonald from INFINITE ILLUSION (no… not Loko’s brother). The song takes us on a progressive roller-coaster featuring an epic guitar solo that showcases the interplay of musical influences that define INTROSPECT. Warning: Once you’re strapped in you won’t want to get off.
The music drops into the sunset tones of Itomori with guitars that have a spacious ambiance and a bass tone reminiscent of the ebbs and flows of a lapping tide. The syncopated groove of the drums solidify the soundscape as Felicity’s angelic voice floats over the top. The evocative dance with keys is a familiar hallmark that makes for a smooth transition into a sax solo that sneaks its way into the mix. An equally seamless transition into heavy guitar riffs does less to break the flow as support it. Everything combines to create a powerful energy as the guitars shudder and vocals bend in an emotive thread of protection that underlies the track.
The following track The Wisdom of Mountains opens with the rich organic sound of piano, which is enough to lull you into a false sense of security before the thunderous riffs that ensue. Falling back into the wide open soundscape as INTROSPECT does so well, the vocal exploration describes the mountains as elegantly in words as the music itself. A personal, reflective conversation goes back and forth with the mountains as the music seems to exemplify the subjective nature of being human. The talent of each musician is on display as drums accentuate the movement of driving bass-lines, enveloping guitar textures and delicate keys and evocative vocals.
Pictured: Felicity Jayne - INTROSPECT
Photographer - Jimmy Wah - Sense Music Media
Leap of Faith welcomes the return of that conscious voice comparing our living being to the natural phenomena of clouds and waves. The sonic backdrop builds with keys and drums in growing pace and magnitude before resetting to a slow and steady tempo as the voice disappears. It isn’t long before the guitars assert their dominance, joined by Felicity Jayne to contextualise the message and lead into an ever-growing wall of sound with a soaring guitar solo brought back to Earth with galloping drums and over-driven guitars laying the foundation for the vocal presence well all know and love.
This marks the final transition into Star’s End which fittingly rounds out the EP with just over 7 minutes of gigadjent. That’s right, it has a bit of everything. From the opening piano into the abrupt introduction of beats and vocals, this song maintains the grace of the misty mountains to before picking up pace and being brought into weighty definition. The drums become a defining feature of this track as they never seem to stop galloping while incorporating interesting tweaks and accents as they carry the song forward. Strangely enough this doesn’t take away from the other instruments but enhances their performance. Complex layers weave together to maintain a textural flow that’s easy to listen to. The music moves back and forth to give the listener a taste of everything and culminates to bring everything together in a final display that dissipates into cinematic ambiance.
The Verdict
Midnight Sun is a beautifully produced, progressive showcase that combines a range of sonic elements that highlight the compositional and instrumental proficiency of some of Sydney’s most talented musicians. Producer and engineer Chris Blancato has put his reliable touches on this EP making it a pleasure to listen to. Easy listening djent is not a phrase I ever thought I’d say but I just did. GIGADJENT. Get on it!
