IT HAS been more than three years since Alpine released its debut album A is for Alpine.
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The six-piece hit the ground running, with the release earning a string of accolades and peaking at number one on iTunes and number 11 on the ARIA album Charts.
After the release, the band spent the next few years touring Australia and America and playing alongside bands including Grouplove, Empire of the Sun and Crystal Fighters.
Now, these guys are back stronger than ever with their sophomore release Yuck, the first single from which has already received rave reviews.
“It’s been ages since we’ve toured, especially in Australia, so it is exciting. But because it’s the first time we’re touring this album it’s also daunting,” Alpine vocalist Lou James said.
“Written down it’s been a really long time since we released the first album but for me it has really flown by.
“We’ve been so busy in between records. We toured Australia, did Groovin’ The Moo, Splendour in the Grass and Laneway, then went to the States and did South by Southwest. We did so much by the time we got home in November 2013 and we had three months break then went straight back into the studio and wrote Yuck.
“For us it feels like we’ve only had a short break but for Australia it feels like ages.”
The album’s first single Foolish has already received overwhelming support from fans and was triple j’s most-played track in April.
The song’s accompanying video received NPR’s first watch in the USA, Clash Music’s clip of the day in the UK and Channel V’s Ripe clip of the week.
James said it was the first time the band took major ownership of one of its video clips.
“We’ve been away for so long that it was important for us to come back and show our personality,” she said.
“There are so many ways to market yourself as a band and what we realised last time was we didn’t really communicate our personality as clearly and this is something we’ve been working on.
“We know ourselves much better.”
James said although the essence of Alpine remained unchanged with Yuck, there was a sense of maturity that could be seen and heard with the latest offering.
“With our first album, we were trying to understand the world around us and there was an innocence to it and a bit of uncertainty. We didn’t know how to communicate a lot of our feelings,” she said.
“As you understand yourself more and have more confidence you can own it a bit more.
“A lot of people have been saying there’s a sexyness to this record which we didn’t really pick up on until people mentioned it.”
Alpine will perform at Karova Lounge on Friday, June 26. For tickets, visit oztix.com.au