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Music

Listen To Alba's Hypnotic House Remix of Black Vanilla's 'Smack'

THUMP Premiere of the Alba remix of Black Vanilla's Smack single.

If you want something done, you give it to a busy person. If you need an innovative dancefloor filler, you ask three of the busiest producers around. Who also happen to be three of the nicest. Black Vanilla is the trio of Jarred Beeler, Lavurn Lee, and Marcus Whale. When they're not combining forces, Lavurn is putting out music as Guerre and Cassius Select, Marcus is operating in Collarbones or Scissorlock mode, and Jarred is releasing tracks as Marseilles. It's been a hectic year for each, but good news for everybody is Black Vanilla's back. Smacks is the new single, and THUMP has the premiere of Alba's mesmerising house rework available to stream and download here. We also scheduled a quick catch up with Marcus between his numerous other appointments.

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THUMP: We're really enjoying the remix, and the original Smack. It's a powerful return, and an interesting sonic contrast with some of the softer edged r&b sounds prevalent at the moment. What do you think the single says about where Black Vanilla is at creatively at the moment?
Marcus: We're interested in harder materials at the moment, both in terms of our listening habits and the way we want to perform. I think we all feel a little tarred with one huge brush (this goes for all our projects) when it comes to the categorisation of our music, to a point at which even our newer material, which is rather removed from that language in some ways, continues to be read in terms of this so-called alt R&B. Ultimately we're driven to do things that sound strong and are undeniable in performance and it seems to have taken us into newer zones.

Definitely. And in a lyrical sense what are some of the messages you're delivering with this new single?
We're interested in challenging some of the more benign elements in our scene and perhaps in our society broadly. We think that there is complacency and ignorance in the way Australian society operates and in a small and humble way, our loudness and agitation is meant to represent the kind of wake-up call we desire in ourselves and others. The "stop fucking around" is about being basic both in the club and in life at large.

Marcus, you're touring in two bands simultaneously with Collarbones and Black Vanilla. Do you have to switch up your mindset between performances, and if so how do you manage this?
It's more that each act demands different approaches and I slip into those. In Black Vanilla I'm entirely free to perform with the microphone, and I actually spend most of my time moving, some of my time singing. With Collarbones, I am much more immersed in the task of putting across a song as their concerns are far more internalised.

How did you all secure the Alba remix?
Alba have been friends of ours for years, as long as Jarred, Lavurn and I have known each other, so it was only natural to ask them to flip our track.

It's a great version. As for your own plans, what's happening with Black Vanilla for the rest of this year?
We'll be having an EP out before the end of the year and perhaps another surprise or two.

Stream and download the Alba remix of Black Vanilla's "Smack" here