Tucked on a brown leather couch in the Rising Sun loft,the siblings – originally from the Gold Coast’s Tallebudgera Valley,now based in Melbourne – have just flown into Sydney,and Amy is feeling a little worse for wear. “She’s lost her voice,” Josh explains,as Amy smiles sadly next to him. “So I might have to do most of the talking.”
Amy and Josh Dowdle of Lastlings:the brother-sister duo have quietly become one of our best dance acts.Steph Cammarano
It’s not the ideal time to lose your voice. The duo’s at the very start of the promotion rollout for their new albumPerfect World,the highly anticipated follow-up to their 2020 debutFirst Contact.A sophisticated and arresting electronic record,First Contactestablished Lastlings as one of the country’s biggest up and coming dance exports. Global superstars RÜFÜS DU SOL have been fans from the beginning,and signed the duo to their label Rose Avenue after hearing their early EPs.
First Contactarrived in the middle of the pandemic chaos – not exactly a perfect time for a record that ushers people onto the dancefloor. They thought about delaying the release,Josh says,but at that stage there was no indication when the lockdown and restrictions would ever end. The duo also thought releasing a heady dance album might give their fans a reprieve from the chaos around them. “People needed music,they needed entertainment,” Josh says.
They don’t mind doing promo,even if it is a little “tedious” at times. Josh laughs and explains that one of the questions they often get is “where did you meet?” “But it’s been good thinking about the album,” he reflects. “Answering questions that we haven’t thought of before.”
The duo’s second album Perfect World is inspired by anime and the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi.Supplied
Perfect Worldisn’t really a lockdown album – the pair say a lot of early ideas for the songs came from a writing trip they did before COVID. Others came from sessions forFirst Contact.Writing for the album stretched over a number of years,and the final touches were done in the studio in the last six months alongside Simon Lam from Melbourne duo Kllo. Like with their debut,Lastlings spent time flitting back and forth between Japan and Australia,spending time in Tokyo and Aomori,a small fishing village where their grandparents lived (although they’ve now moved away). “The village is only like,60 people,” Amy says.
“It’s a beautiful part of the world,” adds Josh. “It’s really inspiring to be around that quiet nature,you’re completely alone with your thoughts. The ocean is there,and the forest is just behind.”
It’s quite the juxtaposition to the neon-bright futurism of Tokyo – a collision that the siblings have always been drawn to. The marriage of the traditional with the ultra-futuristic makes for a perfect match with dance music – which paints human experiences and feelings with an entirely synthetic palette.
“That’s always something we try to do,” Josh says after a pause. “We’re bringing in the human element – experiencing something or going out into nature – and then putting it into something that’s more physical and electronic.
“Going from rural Japan to Tokyo is such a sensory overload as well,” he continues. “That in itself is quite inspiring too because you have this overflow of crazy emotions and feelings and experiences and it’s thought-provoking. It’s nice having that link to Japan in that way.”
First Contactwas peppered with references to famous anime and films –Blade Runner,My Neighbour Totoro,and the work of animator Makoto Shinkai.Perfect Worldcontains similar touchpoints:the siblings name check Sofia Coppola’s 2003 classicLost In Translation,and Spike Jonze’s science fiction romanceHer.But more important than specific touchstones,says Josh,was their aim to find the balance between the organic and non-organic.
As the name suggests,Perfect Worldgrapples with our ideas of,and desire for,perfection. It’s an intensely personal album,as Amy – the songwriter of the two – lays out her anguish over faded relationships and comes to grips with the idea that love is,unfortunately,very tumultuous and sometimes very painful.
“Growing up,my idea of love was… watching all of those Disney movies and all of those princess shows and you just think it’s this perfect thing,” Amy admits. “Going into my twenties I realised it can be so messy,and it’s not perfect. Also moving out of home,experiencing loneliness and mental health problems. Everyone goes through that,and I think we want this album to make people feel less alone.”
A lot of the album,Josh adds,was driven by the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi. “It’s very overdone in Western culture,” Josh laughs. “It’s plastered on cheap paintings. But the philosophy itself is quite beautiful. Finding beauty in imperfection.”
Perfect Worldwas announced to the world through a highly stylised album trailer:Josh and Amy traverse an alien desert,butterflies land on faces,circles are drawn in the sand. The whole thing is narrated by Amy,reciting poetry:“Though if love’s a lovely shape or place/ I’ll make that place a place I dwell”,she says over swelling instrumentation.
Both Josh and Amy are devoted to the creative process – not just of their music,but the visuals and film that accompany it. ForPerfect World,they worked with a creative director in the US to solidify their vision for the album aesthetic,pulling together a mood board that contained scraps of colour,geometry,scientific motifs,and artworks. The icy,other-wordly landscape is carried through their artworks and photos for the record,while their music videos are produced to such a high spec that they’re more like short films (see their recent video for singleGravity,in which Josh dashes through a city pursued by another version of himself). It’s not enough to just release an album – Lastlings want to pull you into a whole world of their creation.
WhileFirst Contactdefinitely leant hard into science-fiction and dystopia,the duo say they’ve pulled back on the sci-fi forPerfect World,although it still comes through in the overall aesthetic. The biggest evolution,both Amy and Josh say,is the rawness and intimacy of Amy’s lyrics – the humanity within the synthetic.
Sibling dynamics in bands can often be fractious,blunt. But when I ask what the two love about working with each other,they don’t need any time to think. “Amy is super creative,” Josh says,smiling. “I love that about her,all the lyrics she’s done[forPerfect World]are very good,I couldn’t have written them.”
“Josh is very good at producing – not just as a music producer,but when we have music videos and stuff like that he can take control and get it all done,” Amy says. “Which is so unusual,” Josh replies,“because I am completely unorganised in my normal life.”
Following the release ofPerfect Worldthe duo have an extensive run of tour dates,which will take them around the country and overseas,including North America and Japan. With no border restrictions or COVID lockdowns holding the album back,we might be living in Lastlings’ perfect world before we know it.
Lastlings’ new albumPerfect World is out now. The band will perform at Melbourne’s Forum on June 30,at Brisbane’s Princess Theatre on July 1,at Sydney’s Metro Theatre on July 8,and at Splendour in the Grass in Byron Bay on July 21-23.
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