We caught up with the duo ahead of their side shows and slot at Splendour in The Grass in July.

It’s been a busy first half of the year for SOFI TUKKER. In late April, the electronic duo released WET TENNIS, a brisk-yet-exhilarating follow-up to their 2018 Grammy-nominated debut, Treehouse. On it, the duo deliver their signature lively optimism atop genre-borrowing beats, including the iconic hook from ‘Tom’s Diner’ on latest single ‘Summer In New York.’  

In the time between, SOFI TUKKER – comprised of musicians Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern – dropped a trio of singles in ‘Original Sin’, ‘Kakee’ and ‘Forgive Me’, the last of which includes a feature from fellow EDM maestro Mahmut Orhan. All these tracks are lifted from what is only their sophomore offering in WET TENNIS, an album three years in the making which sourced input from the duo’s ‘Freak Fam’ fanbase. 

SOFI TUKKER is currently touring the album across America, but by the end of next month, WET TENNIS will trace them to the heart of Australia’s music scene with a performance slated at Splendour in the Grass in July. Elsewhere, they’ll be performing side shows across the country, including Sydney and Melbourne sets alongside Australian artists Set Mo and WIIGZ, and additional gigs in Adelaide and Perth.

We caught up with SOFI TUKKER ahead of their Australian shows for a chat about their inspirations behind WET TENNIS, sporty fashion, and fangirling over fellow Splendour lineup acts. You can read below for the full interview, and head here for SOFI TUKKER’s full tour and ticketing info. For more Splendour in the Grass details, head to their website here.  

I’ve read that WET TENNIS was created in collaboration with fans. Can you give me a little overview of how they contributed?

Sophie: During the pandemic, we were live streaming, we were DJing from our house every single day, and this incredible community was formed called The Freak Fam. They basically joined us every single day, and danced and dressed up and really got to know each other and formed this amazing community. 

We were sharing every single part of our life, because we weren’t rehearsing and then going up on stage. We were just live streaming from our living room, and because it was every day, I think people really got to know us. There was nothing that we weren’t sharing, including what we were working on in the studio. So we were just going to the studio, working on a song, then trying it out on a live stream, and people would react to it, and then we’d go back into the studio and work on it. 

Tucker: So it was kind of like playing a song at a club, but doing it on the internet. Getting reactions, feeling how we feel, sharing it, then going back to the lab and continue working on it. So people saw a lot of different versions of songs, and then it ended up in its final version on the album. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJKFvNg4jwo&feature=youtu.be

WET TENNIS was written over three years throughout the pandemic. Would you say the pandemic was a creative force?

Sophie: We were really creative during the pandemic. We were inspired by the DJ sets, and we’d go play music and we’d want to make music that we’d play at the DJ sets. We were also just listening to a lot of music. Even around the house, we were like ‘well what would we want to make for just chilling right now.’ We love making music so we never really stop. 

Tucker: We also had never had that much time. We’d been touring for like four years prior, basically non-stop. Our first album we made while touring and on the road, so we were mainly thinking about songs that will make people move in the live scenario. So writing without that as the main influence was sort of a new thing for us. 

So I think next time, even though we already have a tonne of songs for the next project,  moving forward we’re always going to carve out more time to really focus on being so intentional about not only the song, but the tracklisting and the visuals and the world we want to create. How we want people to feel and what we really want to put out into the world, especially when the world is difficult [laughs]. 

We were aware when we were putting this out that people had just gone through a lot of difficult stuff, and we wanted to be careful not to add to that with any negativity because we feel like it’s important to try to counteract some of the negative shit happening. 

Would you say WET TENNIS is an extension of the sound that works for you, or was your sophomore album a chance to change things up a bit?

Sophie: I think we’re always changing our sound. We’re always making music that we’re inspired to make. It’s hard to know because we don’t know exactly what’s coming next. We’re going to continue to just make music that inspires us, and not try to be pigeonholed into a genre or into what people think we should be making. We had a lot of fun making these songs. 

There are more emotional songs on the album, and there’s an interlude without any drums, and then there’s a lot of house music. So there’s kind of the full spectrum of everything on the album, but we really wanted to make sure that people felt hopeful and optimistic after listening to it, so we were really careful about picking and choosing the flow of the songs and which ones we included. 

There’s a myth around the sophomore slump, especially given how successful your debut was. Is this something you’re conscious of when creating an album?

Sophie: I personally think we should always make music that’s better than the last music that we’ve made, or at least that we think is better, because we’re always growing and evolving and hopefully getting better at what we do. I like to think we always want to set a higher bar each time we make something.

Tucker: I think we’re always trying to be better in all aspects, and this definitely is one that we hold ourselves to a high standard, and I think we won’t rely on accolades to tell us if we did that or not. I truly believe that this album is better, so if someone didn’t think that, I could live with it, because I believe it. So it’s all good.

‘Summer In New York’ features the hook from ‘Tom’s Diner.’ Was this also intended to be included, or was it a riff that eventually made its way into the song?

Sophie: This one in particular, we actually had this song, and we were talking about it and we were like, ‘you know what, it kind of sounds like a 2022 version of ‘Tom’s Diner’ because that song is this very matter-of-fact explanation of an average day.’ ‘Tom’s Diner’ is an actual diner in New York City, so it kind of felt like a nod to that. Why don’t we make the nod very intentional and obvious rather than subvert it?

The imagery around the album, whether it’s the cover or the videos like ‘Original Sin’, has a glossy, technicolour sheen to it, which aligns perfectly with the sound of your work. How important are the visuals when conceiving of an album or song?

Tucker: They’re really important to us. This one we were more intentional than we’ve been in the past because we’ve had more time to think about it and we really want ed to go all the way in with the execution of the tennis theme and the tennis world, and flipping that tennis fashion on it’s head and making it really colourful rather than all white and exclusive. 

We went to Hawaii for the shoots for that because we were looking for the coolest tennis court and scenery that felt like us, which has always been a tropical lush jungle feel. We found an amazing location in Hawaii so we went there to do all the photoshoots. We also shot ‘Kakee’ and ‘Original Sin’ there. 

How does the actual sport of tennis play into the album itself?

Sophie: First of all, we both play tennis and we both love tennis. We also love tennis fashion, and really wanted to flip the traditional all white into something colourful. Also, everything we do is a back and forth between us. So the logo is the overlap of two tennis racquets because we always talk about us as a Venn diagram, and SOFI TUKKER is kind of like the middle of the diagram between us. You know, we come from athletic backgrounds and love sports, and bringing that sports vibe into music. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xqwnD3BdT4

Your upcoming set at Splendour in the Grass will be your first at the festival. Had you heard of it prior to being announced on the lineup, and are there any acts you’d like to collaborate with who’s on the lineup? 

Tukker: No question, that’s sort of like one of the biggest festivals in the world…Sophie’s looking at the lineup now. I remember seeing the flyer and there was. Oh, The Gorrilaz, let’s go! This is going to be so good. It’ll be fun to say hi to some friends. 

Sophie: Tyler, the Creator, and oh my god, Confidence Man, yes! We’re playing on the same day. I can’t wait to finally meet them. We’ve been talking on the phone for a while but never met in person. 

Tucker: We were actually going to have [Confidence Man] on the tour with us, right before COVID happened, but then everything got cancelled. They were going to open for us on a US tour.

Sophie: Dillon Francis is a friend also, he plays on Friday. I mean, we know a lot of these people. Duke Dumont we’ve talked to on the phone but I don’t think we’ve ever met him. I would love to see a lot of these people. 

Tucker: I want to see all of them!

Your side shows in Melbourne and Sydney will feature a live set with Set Mo. How did this pairing come about? 

Sophie: We got an email about it, and we were like ‘wow, this is cool, let’s do it!’

Tucker: There was a big list of options for support and we listened to everyone and went through it, and we thought that vibe would be a really nice fit. 

What can Australian fans expect from a Sofi Tukker concert?

Sophie: We have been touring the WET TENNIS tour around South America and we’ve built a brand new production for it, so there’s a tennis court on the stage. It’s very high energy. It can get very competitive [laughs]. There’s a scoreboard that Tucker actually plays with a drum kit, where we keep score. People should expect to get sweaty and a little bit competitive.  

What’s unique about performing at a festival as opposed to your own show?

Tucker: I think the difference is, in one you know everybody’s there just to see you, and that creates a different energy. People are singing all the songs, and you don’t have to worry about them going to see another artist at the stage next door halfway through. There’s just different variables at a festival that you can’t control, adn at your own show, it’s really more set to win. There’s less variables going on.

But honestly, I don’t know which is our favourite. Like playing at a festival with a sea of people is often one of the most incredible things, and it’s so important to play to people who might not have been intending to see us, but maybe they will become new fans and followers, so that arguably is the best. It’s just a different vibe.