Julia Jacklin and Elizabeth Hughes on Phantastic Ferniture's debut LP

“When you're hustling to get heard in the corner of bars, it can make you forget why you might be pushing in the first place. This band felt like some kind of soap cutting through the grease; it was just giving me a moment to remember why I was working so hard for music. Bringing back the joy, really.”

Julia Jacklin’s debut solo record, Don’t Let the Kids Win, was one of the breakout successes of 2016 and introduced her to an audience that reached well beyond her native Australia, but it didn’t come easy; she’d spent years prior holding down a day job and playing to whoever would listen by night, around her adopted hometown of Sydney. When you consider that she was dealing in deeply personal folk music, too, you could see the recipe for disillusionment coming a mile off. The challenge of scraping together enough money to decamp to New Zealand to record her album, the inherent difficulties for any Australian artist in cracking the western market, and the emotional toll of spilling out her soul night in, night out were always factors that were going to need to be offset by something a touch lighter.

That’s something that bandmate Elizabeth Hughes can relate to: her own solo music is similarly confessional and her one previous joint venture with Jacklin – her best friend, who penned Don’t Let the Kids Win cut Elizabeth for her – again involved forays into introspective territory. Phantastic Ferniture, a group that began as little more than an in-joke, would go on to provide the pair with an ideal tonic for the stresses of their individual careers; their self-titled full-length, released this month, is an irresistibly fun collection of garage-pop stompers, all breezy guitars and loose lyricism.

The group came together at Frankie’s Pizza in Sydney in 2014, with Ryan K Brennan and Tom Stephens now rounding out the current line-up. Jacklin’s quickfire recollection of their formation is “too much whisky, birthday celebrations, group huddle, vague plans.” They all deliberately picked up instruments that they weren’t well-versed in, which instantly lowered the stakes for them – “we had no fear of failure after that,” Hughes says. To set themselves a deadline for writing some indie pop songs, they booked what they billed as their first and last gig – their original bass player was about to move to Melbourne. “By the time it swung around,” Hughes recalls, “we had two originals, one cover, and a poster made on Microsoft Paint. The audience was comprised of a few friends, Julia’s mum, and a hitchhiker. All in all, just your average band back story.”

“I never thought I’d have this much trouble spelling ‘furniture’ correctly, but it’s a real headfuck for me. It’s like walking up an escalator when the stairs have stopped moving” - Elizabeth Hughes

As time went by, Jacklin and Hughes began to notice not just how valuable Phantastic Ferniture’s off-the-cuff pop fun was to them personally, but also that a committed local following was burgeoning. “There was a show at the Sly Fox in Enmore,” says Jacklin. “They used to have these live nights that were so great; cheap beer, three bands, and a dancefloor at the end. I just remember playing there and people were singing along to songs that we hadn't even recorded yet – that just felt so special. It made me see the power in live music, and really appreciate people who make the effort see a local band perform over and over.”

“I love shows like that, in dark venues where you can basically just be in the crowd while you’re up there,” Hughes adds. “The stage was really low to the ground and it was pretty packed, and the audience were so close to us. Sometimes Julia would walk out into them while she was singing, or walk onstage halfway through the first song. I think we just felt really connected with the people who'd come to see us. There was less of a definition of us as performers and the crowd as spectators – it was just one big party."

Already, the duo found themselves surpassing the expectations they’d had for the project, which had been slim to none. As Hughes puts it, “there were multiple reasons for that, including the fact that I didn’t think we’d get away with the name for very long.” Fantastic Furniture is a nationwide chain in Australia – no prizes for guessing what they specialise in. “I never thought I’d get to the point where I’d have this much trouble spelling ‘furniture’ correctly, but it’s a real headfuck for me these days. It’s like walking up an escalator when the stairs have stopped moving.”

Still, as the solo commitments began to pile up, the process of putting together a Phantastic Ferniture LP looked more and more as if it was going to represent a logistical nightmare. In the end, it was pieced together, bit by bit, whenever they had some spare time, mostly at a host of studios across Sydney, as well as in Brennan’s living room. Jacklin, meanwhile, cut half of the vocals at The Sitting Room in New Zealand, the same place she made Don’t Let the Kids Win. “It took a while to finish,” Hughes explains. “Just finding days when we were all in Sydney at the same time, and all available, was pretty hard. It’s weird listening back to guitars that I tracked a long time ago. I’d do things pretty differently now, but that’s the beauty of a record. I mean, that’s why it’s called a record. It’s a record of an event, a moment in time. There’s something very cool about respecting the choices your past self made, and just letting it be.”

That feels like a good summation of the band’s ethos. The key to Phantastic Ferniture, it seems, is steering clear of overthinking any given decision, whether it’s over the record, the shows or, in Jacklin’s case, the lyrics. “I wrote all of them, and I didn’t spend too much time on any of them, in keeping with how everything has operated with this group so far. There’s a handful of songs that I’ve taken out of personal experiences – Gap Year, Bad Timing and Uncomfortable Teenager – but the rest are less considered. I’m just riding on a feeling!” Hughes’ personal favourite line, for what it’s worth, is 'Mama y Papa Bear said never play with fire.' “That’s proverb worthy!” she exclaims.

Phantastic Ferniture will tour the album through Australia this year, although the future for the band beyond that remains unclear. It seems inevitable that it will once again take a backseat to Jacklin and Hughes’ solo work at some point, with both having already finished new albums; Jacklin will also spend September on the road in the US with First Aid Kit. Regardless, though, you suspect that Phantastic Ferniture will remain a crucial part of their creative outlook, offering them some emotional sanctuary and – above all – a chance to simply enjoy themselves. “When I think back to everything it’s counteracted so far – working jobs, going to uni, playing folk music,” says Hughes, “I realise how valuable it’s been. It’s our opportunity to not take life so seriously, and we’ve relished every minute of it.”

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Phantastic Ferniture is released on 27 Jul via Transgressive