Music / Features
Track by Track:
screensaver - Expression of Interest
screensaver - Expression of Interest
Following the release of their debut album last week through Heavy Machinery Records in Australia and Upset The Rhythm in the UK, we caught up with Melbourne post-punk group screensaver to dig into the unnerved and disorientating tracks that make up Expression of Interest.
With only a couple of songs to their name ahead of the release of their debut album, Expression of Interest serves as a relentless and completely gripping introduction to screensaver. Recorded in breaks between lockdown over the past two years, it catches the band’s live sound in full for the first time, offering a compelling expansion on the turbulent atmospheres of their lockdown-penned singles ‘Strange Anxiety’ and ‘Living In An Instant’.
First single ‘No Movement’ is quick to reveal the scope of screensaver’s sound - with an energised rhythm section pushing the song forwards while looming synths and wirey guitar tangle around Krystal Maynard’s sharp vocals. With its crunchy production and clever use of control and release, the track instantly feels larger than the band’s previous cuts, setting a commanding tone for the rest of the record.
Following on, ‘Buy Sell Trade’ is an overwhelming synth-punk charger with its haphazard interplay between buzzing synthesisers and sprawling guitars, and tracks like ’Static State’ and ‘Overnight Low’ keep the energy up with their heaving grooves and pulsating waves of instrumentation. On the other hand though, moments like ‘Skin’, ‘Attention Economy’ and ‘Soft Landing’ reveal screensaver’s strengths at a slower pace - allowing their murky soundscapes to expand carefully, before eventually we’re washed into a delirious haze as the gaps in their sound become steadily filled by the shadowy layers.
Across its ten tracks, Expression of Interest makes for a completely arresting listen, but in the most visceral sense - a shock to the system that’ll leave listeners feeling wired for more. To help us get to know the album a little better, co-songwriter and guitarist Chris Stephenson walked us through the background of each track.
First single ‘No Movement’ is quick to reveal the scope of screensaver’s sound - with an energised rhythm section pushing the song forwards while looming synths and wirey guitar tangle around Krystal Maynard’s sharp vocals. With its crunchy production and clever use of control and release, the track instantly feels larger than the band’s previous cuts, setting a commanding tone for the rest of the record.
Following on, ‘Buy Sell Trade’ is an overwhelming synth-punk charger with its haphazard interplay between buzzing synthesisers and sprawling guitars, and tracks like ’Static State’ and ‘Overnight Low’ keep the energy up with their heaving grooves and pulsating waves of instrumentation. On the other hand though, moments like ‘Skin’, ‘Attention Economy’ and ‘Soft Landing’ reveal screensaver’s strengths at a slower pace - allowing their murky soundscapes to expand carefully, before eventually we’re washed into a delirious haze as the gaps in their sound become steadily filled by the shadowy layers.
Across its ten tracks, Expression of Interest makes for a completely arresting listen, but in the most visceral sense - a shock to the system that’ll leave listeners feeling wired for more. To help us get to know the album a little better, co-songwriter and guitarist Chris Stephenson walked us through the background of each track.
Body Parts
‘Body Parts’ revolves around Krystal’s keyboard riff and progression for the majority of the song. The guitars propel the song forward while the rhythm section provides harmony and a minimal backbeat. I’d say it’s the most elaborate song structurally on the record as we normally go without bridges and any overwrought changes. I love the way the ending turned out on the recording, it reminds me of Stone Roses for some reason. Our engineer Julian Cue really got the dynamics to shine on this one!
No Movement
I was keen for a good while to use this track as the lead single for the LP. It was one of those songs that fell into place organically in the rehearsal space and felt good right away. The instrumentation has a conversational element to it, some real nice handoffs between the guitar and basslines and synth swells in just the right spots. The space in the middle came out great on the recording and Krystal’s vocals sit perfect throughout. I’m pretty sure she freestyled the lyrics and melody on the spot! I’ll forever be a sucker for a drum break and James takes it home with some monster fills. The sound of cars passing by at the end I recorded on my phone hiking beneath a highway overpass.
‘Body Parts’ revolves around Krystal’s keyboard riff and progression for the majority of the song. The guitars propel the song forward while the rhythm section provides harmony and a minimal backbeat. I’d say it’s the most elaborate song structurally on the record as we normally go without bridges and any overwrought changes. I love the way the ending turned out on the recording, it reminds me of Stone Roses for some reason. Our engineer Julian Cue really got the dynamics to shine on this one!
No Movement
I was keen for a good while to use this track as the lead single for the LP. It was one of those songs that fell into place organically in the rehearsal space and felt good right away. The instrumentation has a conversational element to it, some real nice handoffs between the guitar and basslines and synth swells in just the right spots. The space in the middle came out great on the recording and Krystal’s vocals sit perfect throughout. I’m pretty sure she freestyled the lyrics and melody on the spot! I’ll forever be a sucker for a drum break and James takes it home with some monster fills. The sound of cars passing by at the end I recorded on my phone hiking beneath a highway overpass.
Buy/Sell/Trade
This was another immediate favourite and has been on every live setlist since its inception. It began as a demo in Garageband on Krystal’s laptop and I added the synth bassline and recorded an unplugged electric guitar into the computer’s internal mic. Despite the rudimentary beginnings the hooks were already shining through and, again, Julian did masterful work bringing this track to its potential. I love James’s use of the drum pads throughout this one, the ‘BOO!’ sound is my favorite sample on the record. The whole song is a build to the outro, designed to be a ‘set-ender.’
MEDS
‘MEDS’ is the oldest track of the bunch that began life around 2015 while I was still living in Austin. I had access to a great little cassette four track at the time and would spend some nights off in my sharehouse making loops and drones with old Casios and a Critter Guitari. Being busy with other projects there were never any real goals with the material but it ended up yielding the gothy/kosmische bones for this track. The initial demo ended up on our Bandcamp in 2019 with Krystal’s chorus melody making it finally feel like a real song. It was nice to see it develop over a long period of time and make it onto the LP, I’m still not tired of hearing it.
Static State
Krystal and I wrote the beginnings of this one at a house in country Victoria in the Dandenong Ranges. I had a silly beat looping on a Volca Beats drum machine and we came up with the synth parts there. Listening back to the original demo it’s amazing how slow it was, it was massively improved once James sped it up with a classic death disco beat. At the last minute Giles came up with the bassline heard on the LP which ended up being the most important element of the song in my opinion. One of those last minute ideas that definitely paid off.
Skin
This was another Garageband demo from Krystal that immediately came to life in the jam room, a great hybrid of melancholy and backbeat. I found a sweet CS 80 plugin for free that really colours the choruses in, there’s like the slightest element of prog rock in this song that never quite tips into overindulgence. I love the drum production on this, a nod to the more stylized side of Factory sounds.
This was another immediate favourite and has been on every live setlist since its inception. It began as a demo in Garageband on Krystal’s laptop and I added the synth bassline and recorded an unplugged electric guitar into the computer’s internal mic. Despite the rudimentary beginnings the hooks were already shining through and, again, Julian did masterful work bringing this track to its potential. I love James’s use of the drum pads throughout this one, the ‘BOO!’ sound is my favorite sample on the record. The whole song is a build to the outro, designed to be a ‘set-ender.’
MEDS
‘MEDS’ is the oldest track of the bunch that began life around 2015 while I was still living in Austin. I had access to a great little cassette four track at the time and would spend some nights off in my sharehouse making loops and drones with old Casios and a Critter Guitari. Being busy with other projects there were never any real goals with the material but it ended up yielding the gothy/kosmische bones for this track. The initial demo ended up on our Bandcamp in 2019 with Krystal’s chorus melody making it finally feel like a real song. It was nice to see it develop over a long period of time and make it onto the LP, I’m still not tired of hearing it.
Static State
Krystal and I wrote the beginnings of this one at a house in country Victoria in the Dandenong Ranges. I had a silly beat looping on a Volca Beats drum machine and we came up with the synth parts there. Listening back to the original demo it’s amazing how slow it was, it was massively improved once James sped it up with a classic death disco beat. At the last minute Giles came up with the bassline heard on the LP which ended up being the most important element of the song in my opinion. One of those last minute ideas that definitely paid off.
Skin
This was another Garageband demo from Krystal that immediately came to life in the jam room, a great hybrid of melancholy and backbeat. I found a sweet CS 80 plugin for free that really colours the choruses in, there’s like the slightest element of prog rock in this song that never quite tips into overindulgence. I love the drum production on this, a nod to the more stylized side of Factory sounds.
Attention Economy
‘Attention Economy’ was a beat James wrote at home and sent to Krystal which she completed in Garageband. We rented a converted barn in Kangaroo Ground and layered synths and bass there. It was pretty much a finished song in the box and James did a live drum take over the drum machine and the guitar line came last. It’s a nice mid-album break before we shift gears back into a higher intensity.
Overnight Low
Based on a bass riff Giles improvised at rehearsal, ‘Overnight Low’ was pretty new when we tracked it which lends it a good urgency. The way the band comes together at the top of the second verse is so heavy, one of those magic moments in a take that make it a keeper. Krystal’s vocals at the lower end of her register are real hypnotic, a nice relaxed counterpoint to the anxious guitar. It’s got an unexpected turn at the end with a Juno that seeps in nicely without interrupting the flow.
Regular Hours
This is another song that began when I was still in Austin on the four track and started fleshing out when I moved to Melbourne in 2017. It really came to life with drums and makes great use of the drum pad at the beginning and middle, some solid industrial tones. Giles added some great wild card synth on an MS 20 and there’s a sweet sample of a gunshot hiding in there somewhere.
Soft Landing
I multi tracked this one during one of the earlier lockdowns and enjoyed the real thin guitar tones I was getting from playing a Danelectro directly into a cheap interface, kinda reminiscent of Eno’s Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy. I had the minimal beat going on the Volca and James sent through some more percussion to fill it out. Real solid production from Julian here, it gets real cinematic on a big sound system. Krystal’s vocals are absolutely gorgeous, it definitely seemed to make for the most natural closer.
‘Attention Economy’ was a beat James wrote at home and sent to Krystal which she completed in Garageband. We rented a converted barn in Kangaroo Ground and layered synths and bass there. It was pretty much a finished song in the box and James did a live drum take over the drum machine and the guitar line came last. It’s a nice mid-album break before we shift gears back into a higher intensity.
Overnight Low
Based on a bass riff Giles improvised at rehearsal, ‘Overnight Low’ was pretty new when we tracked it which lends it a good urgency. The way the band comes together at the top of the second verse is so heavy, one of those magic moments in a take that make it a keeper. Krystal’s vocals at the lower end of her register are real hypnotic, a nice relaxed counterpoint to the anxious guitar. It’s got an unexpected turn at the end with a Juno that seeps in nicely without interrupting the flow.
Regular Hours
This is another song that began when I was still in Austin on the four track and started fleshing out when I moved to Melbourne in 2017. It really came to life with drums and makes great use of the drum pad at the beginning and middle, some solid industrial tones. Giles added some great wild card synth on an MS 20 and there’s a sweet sample of a gunshot hiding in there somewhere.
Soft Landing
I multi tracked this one during one of the earlier lockdowns and enjoyed the real thin guitar tones I was getting from playing a Danelectro directly into a cheap interface, kinda reminiscent of Eno’s Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy. I had the minimal beat going on the Volca and James sent through some more percussion to fill it out. Real solid production from Julian here, it gets real cinematic on a big sound system. Krystal’s vocals are absolutely gorgeous, it definitely seemed to make for the most natural closer.
Expression of Interest is out now through Heavy Machinery Records in Australia and Upset The Rhythm in the UK - head to screensaver.bandcamp.com to grab the album on limited edition vinyl.
