Last month Yr Familiar released one of the songs of the year. Their latest single Breathe, is a strong, mesmerising, synthwave strut, stirring up powerful emotions. Hazy Days Music would like to thank Brea for taking the time out and having a chat.

 I always get really excited when Yr Familiar releases a new song! You always keep your music really fresh. Could you take us back to how you all meet? And where did Yr Familiar all begin?

Yr Familiar is made up of Shem Allen, myself (Breannen Stanbridge) and Shane Rudken. We all met at QUT (Queensland University of Technology), studying the same music degree. Back then, we played in various bands - Shane had played in Regurgitator (he was that crazy synth dude causing havoc on stage). I always looked up to him as this synth-punk god in uni; Shane also played in Ponyloaf and has his solo project Doom Doom. Shem Allen was the singer and guitarist of Skinny Jean circa 2010s, and I played in the band Loomer; we were a very shoegaze/psych-gaze band which is obvious since we were named after a MBV song...

Fast-forward ten years, and we’ve remained mates but have really reconnected over the last three years. We've always said, let’s start a band together, and then a year goes on, and nothing happens, then one of us brings it up again, and another year passes. Finally, Shane and I started writing together, and we caught up for a beer with Shem one day and showed him this music we were making, and he said, this all sounds great, but you could be doing this better.  

So Yr Familiar was born around two years ago in Coorparoo, Brisbane and we’ve been working with Marly Luske at Alchemix studios in South Brisbane to polish our sound.

How do you find those previous band experiences and musical influences play a role in your sound today? 

Shane and I are more into the darkness of music. I guess you could say we use music as our self-harm. We like to wallow in our own pity, haha. We really bonded over shoegaze and synthwave/dark wave stuff, anything that kind of hits that unique tone which is a bit dissonant but pretty at the same time.

Shem Allen is very technical, classically trained on the guitar and has the voice of a bloody angel. He is really refined, so it’s been a cool amalgamation to bring our looseness and love for noise to someone who is quite technical and refined. It adds a whole new dimension to Yr Familiar.

I'm obsessed with your latest single, Breathe. How was the writing and recording experience?

Breathe was one of the first songs we wrote as a band. Shane showed me a synthwave track that he was working on. The piece itself was full of lush layered synths and a distorted drum beat, and the piece gradually built towards the end. I loved it and didn't want to change anything about it. We didn’t want to put it in a pop formula so  I just worked with his progression. You’ll notice the bassline for the bridge becomes the bassline in the second chorus, and a few other things get switched around so all sections are smooth in transition... I think when people realise the sign was more of a soundscape at the start, you can clearly tell the melody/lyrics came later.. well I think so anyway.

We did the first recording at home. It wasn’t the greatest and pretty lo-fi, which I didn't mind. My vocals were quite dissonant and I sang with a fast vibrato in the chorus. I wanted the vocals to really stand out and kinda shriek towards the end. Coupled with Shem’s harmonies and a reverbed snare, Breathe kinda sounds like an 80s tune to me.

The lyrics are really strong, passionate and powerful. Could you share the meaning behind them?

It's about the dissolving of a significant relationship. I constantly found myself in a vortex of regret, guilt or anger. I found I had one foot in the door and one out. I was never actually moving forward. Hence in the chorus, the lyrics are - breathe in and out and walk away. It's pretty straightforward, but that was the hardest thing I could do at the time. 

The song has a pulsating beat throughout. To me, the last chorus feels like you’ve broken from the chains of all these bad vibes and you're finally free.

You released such a great music video for Breathe. I feel like the lyrics really tie in with the video. How was coming up with this idea? Choosing the location? And was it a difficult one to figure out how to shoot?

I guess we played into that theme of not feeling in control of your own actions. We wanted to film a one-shot music video but it turns out that they are really hard to execute well, and you need to find a big open space.

It was quite funny how it all came together. The location was in Wild Horse Mountain. About 60k up the Bruce Highway from Brisbane where all the pine forests are in Queensland. Our DOP Dan Baebler hurt himself rock climbing the day before the shoot so wasn’t able to walk too well. When we got up there, we were like, how are we going to do this? It's pretty much one running shot. Shane volunteered and said he could try and film it.  We put a camera on Shane (who had probably never done anything like this before) and a sandbag (to help balance the camera), and he chased us through the pine trees. Haha, it was a real team effort. 

It was great to capture the beauty of the pine forest, it’s truly epic up there.

Towards the end, the camera goes down and a hand picks up the mirror I dropped earlier in the song.. And who picks it up? I’ll let you find out.. It ties into how Breathe is a self-reflective song, which focuses on someone accepting their own actions.

Your single launch show coming up very soon. Who supporting you? And what are you looking forward to most about playing again?

It’s going to be really cool playing with syrup, go on and Relay Tapes. syrup, go on, just released a song called Lavender Sky, which is funny because back in February, we put out a song called Lavender Gold; they are very different songs. It'll be nice to play with a band down the Pac motorway because it's hard enough to tour interstate..

I'm really looking forward to playing Relay Tapes as well. They're a cool shoegaze/psychedelic band in that realm of MBV vibe and do it well. 

We haven't played in a while, and it's going to be such a fun night. I think all the bands tie in well together. We all have hints of haziness and pretty melodies coming through the wash of noise. I don’t like categorising our sound because we enjoy writing everything, but it’ll be nice to align ourselves with some very shoegaze bands for the launch. 

*Show has been postponed since the day of the interview. Find all the latest show info here*

What are your plans for the rest of the year? Is there an album or EP in the works?

We’ve got a few more shows to be announced and then we will release an EP by the end of the year, or maybe an album - we’ll see.. The songs are all there; it just depends on what format. It’s been a pretty wacky year so kinda playing it by ear… The title will be, Do you know this person?

Stay up to date with Yr Familiar on Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.

Posted on the 26th of August, by Jake Taylor.