PVT: Consonant, Consonant, Consonant

You had to change your name due to an American band called Pivot since the last time we heard from you. Annoying?

Yeah, it was a bit of a pain but it was always kind of hanging there. We knew those guys were around but we just tried to ignore them. In the end they popped up with a threat and what it came down to was if we kept using the name in the States they would sue us. We didn’t want to get bogged down in it all, we just wanted to move forward. So it’s PVT...for now anyway.

Was 2008’s O Soundtrack My Heart ever marked to be an imaginary film score? People have cited John Carpenter and Vangelis as influences.

Yeah, they’re just reference points. We really didn’t want it to sound like a soundtrack or anything even though there’s the inference there with the word in the title. People tend to talk about that aspect but you know, that’s just a part of it. Mainly it was a real need to try and make something that hadn’t been made before, that was what inspired us; to say ‘no’ to things that were obvious or familiar.

What can you tell me about the change in direction on your new album Church With No Magic?

It isn’t so much change as us just making music like with O Soundtrack. By that I mean things that were new, unknown and different. We really made an effort to make it sound like nothing else. It’s really not that big a step for us, mentally, and I guess we’ve been progressing towards that sound for the last two years. Maybe for a lot of people it will sound like a big change but I think they’ll be pretty accepting of it.

So you didn’t make a conscious effort to write ‘songs’ this time?

Of course it got to a point where we discussed how much we were going to push this way and the songs came out in that direction so we needed to make it sound like a whole record. When you get onto that creative process it starts to tell you where to go after a while, so we just needed to take it to the end. It was really exciting for us because it felt really new and it felt like this particular kind of music hadn’t been made, which is a pretty big call and it’s hard to have that perspective while you’re making it, but we got to a point where we felt we’d really done something different and that’s all that matters.

What has reaction been like to the new album so far?

Reaction to the single (Window) has been great and we’ve already played a lot of live shows with the new material. It’s been quite exhilarating and everyone’s been right behind it. There’s a real kind of electricity from people and their reaction to the new stuff. I think a lot of people were a bit confused but they wanted to hear more, which is the most we can ask for. Being creative can be a really selfish act, you’re just making something that you want to hear, so once you get it done you worry that no one will ‘get it’. At the very least people are getting it and if they don’t, they seem to want to give it another go.

Do you think the new record is more accessible?

Not necessarily. During the process of this record it felt a lot more experimental than O Soundtrack My Heart because we tried every angle. We did a lot of jamming, we came from a purely electronic point of view a lot of times, we did over-dubs, wrote lyrics and melodies and we threw everything at it and it was a really weird process. From that angle, this idea about accessibility is a bit of an odd one because we feel like this record’s even weirder than the last one.

What is a Church With No Magic?

It came from things we were thinking about during the record, mainly places or events that exist that maybe lack substance or meaning but where people still congregate. It’s not to be taken literally though. It’s not a swipe at religion. I always think of shopping centres; they’re just empty places, places that lack substance and meaning but are necessary and have a function. But we’re not making a big statement or preaching about capitalism. It’s about having some sense of purity and meaning in our lives. That’s just a constant thought that humans have; the pursuit of happiness.