Words by Christopher Kevin Au

Back in June, Australia’s favourite production duo, Flight Facilities announced their triumphant return with a new single in ‘Arty Boy.’

The silky, serene number marked Flight Facilities’ first offerings since their 2014 debut album Down To Earth, and found them collaborating once more with vocalist Emma Louise, who most previously appeared on their mesmerising single ‘Two Bodies.’ But just as notable as the song were the accompanying visuals, directed by German collective Jünglinge Film. Taking us into an 80s gym owned by Irani-German couple Shirin & Nasser – friends of buff icon Arnold Schwarzenegger – the video marks Flight Facilities’ most intriguingly bizarre video yet, a swirling haze of sculpted bodies and neon lights.

In celebration of the release, we chatted to Flight Facilities about crafting all aspects of their latest single, Australia’s ‘shirtless bro’ epidemic and their plans for the immediate future:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNJFG6zQBlo

‘Arty Boy’ marks your first new music since ‘Down To Earth.’ A lot has happened since then – including your massive symphony shows – is the vibe different in the studio this time around?

We’re certainly a lot quicker at writing. But it hasn’t made us less careful. We pick songs apart to the tiniest degree. We’ve also become aware of our strengths and weaknesses in making a song, so the most important part in any partnership is having someone to turn to, and asking for their help. The biggest challenge is trying to convey a feeling, a direction or vision of a track, without running too far from its original concept.

You guys connected once again with Emma Louise. How was that process working with her, especially after the success of ‘Two Bodies’?

This song was made in the exact opposite fashion to ‘Two Bodies’. When we first worked with Emma, we came to her with an instrumental, and she crafted a beautiful vocal around it. This time, it was Emma who approached us with a series of songs that she was working on for her album, Supercry. ‘Arty Boy,’ previously known as ‘Boy In The Zoo,’ was the most developed of any of the ideas we worked on with Emma, and once she decided that the song didn’t fit on her album, we all more or less came to the conclusion that it sounded a little bit more on the Flight Facilities side of things.

As for working with her, the only hard part about it is that fact that we’re all incredibly childish. So it’s not hard to waste time together laughing, making joke songs or telling embarrassing stories. When we do finally make music together, she’s one of, if not the most, talented artist we’ve ever worked with. Sit her down, unprepared with a keyboard, a guitar or even just a microphone, and she breathes out more music than she does Co2.

Tell us about the concept of the video. How did you find this couple, and what is their relationship with Arnold Schwarzenegger?

This was one of those instances where we didn’t have to talk to a series of directors. When JÜNGLINGE pitched the initial concept, we loved it straight away. In particular, the fact that everything at the beginning of the video is entirely factual. The Arnold Schwarzenegger element to the video is 100% based on a true story. We thought there’s a beautiful positivity to Shirin and Nasser that was too good to pass up on. We’re over the moon with how it turned out. It’s probably the most we’ve ever been asked about a music video, which is a great sign in itself.

Speaking of muscly people, Australia seems to have a ‘shirtless bro’ demographic when it comes to dance music, although that seems to have subsided with the dissolution of the mega-festivals in Australia. With another wave of international dance festivals arriving in Australia over the next year, do you think that we’ll see the rise of the shirtless bro once again?

The shirtless bros definitely have a place in the music industry. We could never forget that at our first festival appearance, Parklife 2010, we played ‘Crave You’ and a big shirtless bro got on a friend’s shoulders and sung every word to our girly love song. Bros have feelings too. It’s easy to make fun of the swollen douchebag, but we kind of hope they return. They’re undoubtedly a part of the Australian festival fabric, however, we hope their comeback comes with some self-awareness.

For all of Australia’s misgivings, the one thing we do best, is making a lovable shared joke of something that was once perceived as embarrassing and negative, but in reality, was fairly harmless. For example, the ‘c’ word, a bludging tradie, Warnie, or the ability to put ‘ie’ or ‘o’ after the first syllable of most words, and still have everyone know exactly what you’re talking about. We hope ‘shirtless festival bro’ can graduate to these ranks. The Southern Cross tattoo might take a little longer.

The artwork comes courtesy of artist Christiane Spangsberg, who has previously appeared in publications like Vogue and Harpers Bazaar. How do you think she put her own twist on your aesthetic?

There almost couldn’t have been a better single, in which to use such a high profile artist like Christiane. The name ‘Arty Boy’ was begging for something hand made, and we couldn’t be happier with the result. It’s definitely one of the more minimal, surreal artworks we’ve been able to put our names to. The simplicity of it certainly added to the strength and sophistication of its appearance. The best part was, when we asked her, she told us that she was actually a fan. It made having her work represent our song that much more special.

What do you guys listen to when you’re in the gym?

One of us does yoga, so there’s not a whole lot of music there, and my (Hugo) physique may have given away that I don’t exactly go to the gym. But when Jimmy did go to the gym, it was his way of keeping up with what was on Top 40. I remember asking how the hell he knew all these songs we would hear while in airports or hotel lobbies. He was equally amazed at how I’d managed to avoid these songs with millions of plays.

If I go on a walk, I enjoy the occasional Joe Rogan podcast too. He gets some incredibly interesting guests, so hearing an interesting conversation can be a nice break from constantly listening to music.

What’s on the cards for Flight Facilities for the rest of 2017?

As always, more music. We’ve been traveling and writing a lot, so we plan to continue releasing what we’ve been working on. There’s probably enough for an album, but the music industry has changed so much with streaming services, playlists, and the general public’s demand and consumption of music, that we’re always open to new and creative ways of releasing. It’s an incredibly uncertain time with music, but that just makes it exciting.