For the last seven years, Fingerless has existed as the solo project of multi-instrumentalist Marc Cheeseman, and the previous releases has seen Marc creating sprawling cuts of messy psychedelic folk, full with character and lo-fi charm. However, on Outhere, Fingerless’ third album, the project is transformed and moves from the confines of Marc’s brain and into a band room.

Outhere begins with ‘Go’, a soundscape of sorts built with ethereal synths that drone and pulsate hauntingly for three minutes. The track almost plays as a sonic transition for the project, and when the title track follows up with the rhythm section playing a steady groove, it’s clear that Fingerless isn’t what it used to be. Gone is the disorderly chaos of the previous work, and instead we’re hearing full guitar chords, careful harmonies and warm production. The next track ‘Take’ builds this even further, and sees the band pounding away on a garage rock progression, complete with a runaway guitar solo and some strange sounds in the peripheries for good measure.

The transition to full band isn’t just an opportunity for Fingerless to rock out though. Outhere also sees Cheeseman taking advantage of the band’s musical breadth and the cleaner production, to create lush moments of tender folk. On ‘Iron’, the band ebbs and flows around a circular acoustic guitar motif, and Cheeseman’s voice gently takes the lead. ‘Tingalpa’ strips things back even further, an alt-country track filled out with spacious guitars, eerie drones and emotive vocals.

Finally, it’s impossible to talk about Outhere without mentioning the album’s monstrously brooding closing track, ‘Welcome To The Hive’. Clocking in at over 12 minutes, it’s a terrifying soundscape that builds and warps constantly, full with uncanny drones and non-human spoken vocals. It’s a somewhat challenging way to finish the album, but if you have the patience to hear the whole thing out, you’ll soon find yourself lost in the madness of it all. And if anything, it’s a powerfully stark reminder that Fingerless are not a band to be pigeonholed.

Overall, Outhere is a really strong and intriguing album, an impressive return for Cheeseman and a welcome introduction to his new bandmates. To celebrate the new release, we chatted with Cheeseman to find out all about Fingerless and Outhere.

For the unacquainted, who are Fingerless?

Previously, Fingerless has been the one-man, acid-folk, Brisbane bedroom fondu party of Marc Cheeseman, with albums 5:18 (2011), Organ Control (2012), and EP Does It Really Though? (2017) peppered throughout the internet. Presently, we’re a four-piece psych-rock/acid-folk band absorbing and emitting influences such as Love, The Moody Blues, Syd Barrett, Anton Newcombe and Joseph Campbell.

You’re about to release your new album Outhere, want to tell us a bit about it?

It’s your run-o'-the-mill psychological/aural adventure story. It opens with an ominous soundscape evoking a distant land of strangely fluid and polymorphous beings. Following this is the heraldic ‘Out There,’ which acts as a ‘call to adventure’ and indicates that the time for the passing of a threshold is at hand. What happens next? How will it all end? The only way to find out is to listen.

You’ve released two albums prior to this one, however Outhere is the first time we’re hearing a full band on a Fingerless release. What changed this time around?

I wanted a louder and more dynamic live show. I also wanted to try a different way of songwriting. With more people involved we now have more musical influences to draw on and more ideas floating around. It’s been a great experience taking songs apart and building them back up again, but in a different form.

Outhere has been described as something of a concept album, although it was only considered a concept album once most of it was recorded. How did that all come together?

Yeah so basically after everything was recorded and the song order was chosen I listened to the album, as you do. After listening through it a few times I started noticing thematic and musical ideas that seemed to bounce off each other and give off a kind of flavour that I thought could be highlighted nicely by the album artwork. So I designed something and asked Greg Reason (who also engineered, produced, mixed, and did the mastering for the album) to make a better version of what I made. He succeeded.

The concept: it is about movement, framing and scale. There are soundscapes and phrases within the album that evoke a feeling of moving between scales when interpreting a situation, thus reframing our perception of a mundane and static reality. In a hypermodern world where all the frames are not only available but malleable, you gotta go with what feels good.

You’ve teamed up with Valley Heat Records for this release - how did that come about?

I emailed them and asked if they’d be interested in helping me release my new album. John Russell (VHR) took a listen, dug what he heard, came to a show and here we are. We really like what they’ve been doing in the Brissie music scene with the small cassette and 7” runs, and we’re really excited to be part of their musical family. There’s not that many folks out there willing to help out the little guys and it’s awesome to work with someone who’s as passionate about the music as we are. Not to mention the Brisbane Music Graveyard which they also run; that site rules! There are so many great recordings up there, all ready and willing to be inserted into your earholes.

How’s the rest of 2018 shaping up for the band?

Great! We’ve got a few shows coming up at the moment including the Brisbane and Sydney album launch shows. We’re putting a 7 inch together at the moment, and we’re also planning to record some new songs for another 7 inch sometime after July. And, we’re also working on a separate EP (which could very well turn into an album, but we’ll see) to be released towards the end of the year. Plus, gigs! Lots of gigs, but none of which we can announce just yet.