'We Just Love It': San Cisco Get Under The Skin Of Their New Music
Tuesday, 26 November 2019
Written by Huw Baines
Photo: Pooneh Ghana
The October return of San Cisco was a suitably smooth affair. The Australian indie-pop band’s comeback single, Skin, strolled into our lives with a hook that wouldn’t quit and the sort of sunny disposition that has long characterised their output. But lurking at the margins were open wounds, broken promises and the remnants of a busted relationship. That unrefined darkness was new.
“We just love it,” guitarist and vocalist Jordi Davieson says. “When we wrote it, it really felt like we were doing something we had never really tried before.” He adds: “I think the verse lyrics really set the scene: ‘You told me forever, I guess you just changed your mind’ and ‘The more I loved you the further you pushed me away.’”
Skin is the first single from San Cisco’s next LP, which is expected in 2020 through their new label Nettwerk. It suggests that the follow-up to 2017’s ‘The Water’ will have a more sedate side compared to that record’s largely rambunctious indie-pop, but Davieson is playing his cards close to his chest regarding any overhaul in style. “I don’t know, I find questions like this hard,” he says. “I don’t know about musical shifts or changes but I do think as a band we have grown and worked hard to be better at what we do.”
The new record was recorded as a three piece—the band is completed by multi-instrumentalist Josh Biondillo and drummer-vocalist Scarlett Stevens—in Byron Bay with influential collaborator Steven Schram following a short period of downtime once the group had finished up touring on ‘The Water’. “I think we just took some time off to get our strength back and then got into writing, which was a nice change from being on the road,” Davieson says.
Perhaps inevitably, though, their next change in scenery will find them logging more miles. Beginning on November 27 in Fortitude Valley, a suburb of Brisbane, the band will head out for a short run of Australian dates that also includes stops in St. Kilda, Adelaide, Newcastle, Sydney and Perth.
As they ready themselves to kick start a new era in the band’s life with these shows, Davieson admits that San Cisco's line up, which has often been in a state of bassist-related flux, has now settled and solidified around himself, Biondillo and Stevens moving forward.
“Josh, Scar and I have been the core members for some time now and we have an open relationship with all of our awesome bass players,” he says. “We just change up who is on bass depending on availability because they all tour in other bands. Except Nick [Gardner], he is studying engineering now and can only play on weekends.”
The next few weeks will be about introducing crowds to some new sounds and testing the water for what should be a busy 12 months ahead. As the latest chapter in San Cisco’s story begins to unfold, Davieson is impatient to get to the action. “Personally, I’m very excited,” he says of the new record. “It’s all pretty much finished and I just want to get it out. It’s definitely my favourite work we have done to date.”
San Cisco Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Wed November 27 2019 - BRISBANE Zoo
Thu November 28 2019 - MELBOURNE Hotel Esplanade
Fri November 29 2019 - ADELAIDE Jive
Sat November 30 2019 - NEWCASTLE Cambridge Hotel
Sun December 01 2019 - SYDNEY Oxford Art Factory
Fri December 06 2019 - PERTH Badlands
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