It's very late on an unseasonably chilling September Tuesday when I speak to Munro Melano, keyboardist for erstwhile post-genre mega outfit CASUAL PROJECTS. Ahead of what is likely to be a springtime of writing, recording and touring for the group, I'm keen to hear Munro's thoughts on the year that's passed; a year that's seen the group move to Melbourne, see through an epic national tour and even make time for a brief foray over to North America, where they popped by the South By Southwest Festival and performed a showcase gig at Canadian Music Week. "It's been a great year, especially moving to Melbourne. Since four of us went overseas for a few months, we're still getting used to Melbourne and are kind of having to go through the early stages twice," says Munro.
Since releasing their sophomore LP No Rest in May 2008, the group has snapped up successive International Songwriting Competition awards, had their award-winning videos flogged on Rage and Channel V, and even had their video for Move Along pick up the Best Indie Video award at this year's St Kilda Film Festival. With the prospect of a third album hitting the shelves in early 2010, many might wander about the direction the boys might be taking in their current writing periods, especially considering the loss of a few members due to their relocation.
Although being known for their seamless alchemy of hip-hop, rock, jazz and funk, Munro suggests that this winning formula won't necessarily last forever. "I'm pretty excited about our next album," he says. "I'd be disappointed if we just have the singer doing the chorus and the rappers doing the rapping sections, as we've done before. We've lost the horn section, so it might be a bit more synth-heavy, but that might also be because I've stocked up on a few more synths since we moved here," he says, chuckling a little, before elaborating a little more on the group's ongoing evolution. "We've changed, but not because of the move. Just because groups always change. And of course, your musical influences change. Just this week I've been listening to Jay-Z, which I never would have done in the past. When we started, I never would have checked out gangsta stuff like that. The way you feel after listening to Jay-Z is very different to after listening to my older influences, like Arrested Development."
But of course, before we can hear Munro going all keyboard-gangsta on us, the group will knuckle down for some diligent writing and touring, including a trip to Canberra in early October. "I'm really excited to come back and see what's been going on in Canberra. We need to find someone to support us and having been away from the scene for almost a year now, Julz and I are kind of excited about doing some MySpace searching to see what's cropped up in Canberra recently." You heard the man, kids. Get ya skates on!
Have just uploaded a new track Music onto their triple j Unearthed site.
