‘Chemistry’ feels like an emotional tug-of-war. What was the spark that inspired this track, and how did it evolve in the studio?

Chemistry came to life from a pretty rough emotional spot (as a lot of songs do hahaha) but it was a way to understand and process those emotions I was feeling at the time. I was actually vacuuming my place after playing a house party show, so naturally a bit dusty, when the chorus melody and lyrics came to me in one go. I stopped what I was doing and ran over to write it down and from there the track just fell together pretty quickly in another writing session I had later that week.

There’s a definite nod to early 2010s indie pop-rock in ‘Chemistry’, but it still feels fresh and grounded in the now. Who were you listening to while making this track, and how do those influences creep into the Scatter Light sound?
Both James and I listen to a massive range of artists which inspire our writing in different ways. However, this track was definitely born out of a love for Brit rock bands such as Catfish and the Bottlemen and their way of putting together these raw and energetic rock songs that are quite lyrically dense, but still manage to be super catchy pop songs.

You’ve described ‘Chemistry’ as groove-driven – with drums, bass and guitar locking in tight. How do you guys approach building that kind of rhythmic chemistry in the writing and recording process?
James is a really incredible drummer and has played, studied and taught the drums for most of his life so he is definitely a massive influence on the band rhythmically. We often start from the ground up with our songs, working out how the rhythm feels and how it comes across as almost the most important factor, with Chemistry being no different, as it informs how people move and react to the songs, especially in a live setting. After I had the idea for the lyrics, we came up with a rhythmic feel that matched the kind of song we wanted to make and then the rest kind of fell together chord and structure wise.

Your live shows have a real reputation for energy – and you’ve supported some big names. How are you feeling about stepping onto the Metro Theatre stage on August 20, supporting Deep Sea Arcade? Any surprises in store?

We're super excited to be playing at the Metro as it's always been an institution of live music in Sydney. We're also stoked to be playing with Deep Sea Arcade too as their music is super inspiring to us and has a lot of psychy, indie and pop flavours that we personally love. This will also excitingly be Scatter Light's first 4 piece show, as we're bringing a guitarist/keys player on board to help fill out the live sound. As we continue to layer up our recordings with synths and extra guitars, we feel it's important to translate the recordings to the live space as the listener hears them on the record, so we're very excited to open up that new dimension to our live sound for the very first time at this show.

With a 9-date tour ahead, including stops in Brisbane, Melbourne, and more – how does ‘Chemistry’ set the tone for what fans can expect from these upcoming live shows?
We're very excited for the run of shows throughout the end of the year and Chemistry definitely will set the tone for what audiences can expect from the setlist. We love to keep our live shows energetic and hopefully entertaining as a result so we're keen to get stuck in!

Scatter Light’s trajectory over the last few years has been steadily rising, with radio love from triple j, FBI, and 2SER. What’s been the biggest lesson or moment of clarity for you as a band through this journey so far?
We're very grateful for all the support we've received on our journey making and releasing music so far, so we thank everyone who has been along for the ride. For us though, it continues to be about making sure we're continuing to enjoy the process and making sure we're having fun making music and playing the live shows, as that is what will ultimately create the best results and hopefully translate to our audience in an infectious way. We just love what we do so preserving that is kind of what it's all about and so we can continue to do what we love for a long time. Any results that come from that are amazing but not the end goal, so just making sure we're always stoked has been the biggest lesson so far.