One of Melbourne’s most illusive bands, Dianas have spent the better part of the last five years captivating local audiences with their hypnotic blur of dream-pop and post-punk. They’ve just announced the release of Baby, Baby, their long-awaited second album, and if the first two singles are anything to go by, it’s set to take everything that makes the band so captivating up a notch.

This time around their signature tangle of crystalline guitar and bass feels like an onslaught, and while their ethereal vocals are still somewhat disarming, they can’t quite smother the sinister ferocity that bubbles underneath. To celebrate the releases, we got in touch with vocalist/bassist Nat Pavlovic to find out a little more about the new music, as well as the band's brand new label Blossom Rot Records.

TJ: Hey Dianas, how’s it going? For the unacquainted, want to tell us who you are and what you do with yourselves?

D: We are Caity, Nathalie and Anetta, we’re all originally from Perth but we’re now firmly planted in Melbourne, we miss the sun but we love it here. Caity and I (Nat) have been playing together for the ripe old time of about 8+ years, and Anetta joined us about three or four years ago. In between playing music together we all have pretty busy lives, following various pursuits to fund that DIY lifestyle!

This past month you’ve dropped ‘Going Gone’ and ‘Weather Girl’, your first new music since 2017 - how’s it feel to finally have new music out?

Feels so so good. It’s really nice to have songs out that show how we actually sound as a band! We’ve changed a lot since our last EP, from playing together so much and spending more time together, so it’s good to be able to show some of that in recorded form.

The most recent single ‘Weather Girl’ came out a few weeks ago as an anti-Valentine’s Day gift. Can you tell us the story behind the track and the striking clip that accompanied it?

It started off as a relatively simple song, but as everyone added their parts it kept growing more and more epic until it became what it is today and compelled us to make a witchy video to accompany it. The song itself doesn’t necessarily have an anti-valentine’s sentiment, it’s more just about the feeling of being too caught up in and reliant on another person - scary but sweet.

The video on the other hand is a demonstration of someone acting on that feeling in a destructive and harmful manner (and then being destroyed in turn). It’s a bit silly and over the top - “extreme” was the one word review of one Diana’s mother - but suits the dramatic and slightly creepy vibe of the song. 

Both tracks have a unique ability to sound incredibly chaotic and dreamy at the same time - how do Dianas go about putting together these kind of tracks?

Caitlin and I always take our time working out our individual bits, she’ll sit pretty patiently playing the same bit over and over while I work out whatever the hell notes I wanna play. I guess allowing it to get as chaotic as possible. And maybe the dreamy comes from our baby-esque vocals? 

You’ve also just announced you’ve started your own label, tell us about Blossom Rot Records?

Yeah! Blossom Rot was a long talked about, long distance pipe dream idea between my friend Sophie [McComish, Body Type] and myself until one day we just baggsed the instagram account and went from there. We’ve both worked in the industry in different capacities, and we wanted to somehow incorporate that knowledge into our mainly live-music focussed lives now. We're living cross country in Melbourne and Sydney so it's kinda cool that it'll be like a cross section of the two states, and not just confined to one area or one music scene.

You’ve mentioned Blossom Rot has formed thanks to you and Sophie’s shared love/hate of the music industry. What do you hope to do differently with Blossom Rot? Any norms you want to challenge?

I think that we both just want to bring back the joy in releasing music, just being able to share it with people who are also excited to hear new and cool things. I guess challenging the idea that releasing music has to be in this set concrete way, and maybe just trying to think of fun and creative ideas to get it out there, or even just keeping it real simple

It’s looking like 2020 is going to be a pretty massive year for Dianas and Blossom Rot - anything you’re most excited for?

Cannot wait for the album to be out! And getting out there to share it all with new and old friends! And I’m also personally excited to work on releasing music that’s not my own band lol.