Track By Track: ALTA on Sincere EP

From musings on love to the futility of hanging out with toxic people, Lesser and Dowson intelligently explore common but complex human emotions via a backdrop of cut 'n' spliced synth-pop that rarely refuses to sit still.

Have a listen to the EP and read the pair's accompanying guide to each track below.

Plans

Plans was the first track we released off the EP. The lyrics describe someone in your life who keeps making shitty decisions over and over again and now it has got to the point where you have to look after your own interests and bounce outta there. But even though you're out of the picture, deep down if it came down to it you are there for them and you wont let them spiral totally out of control. The beat is percussive and playful so when combined with the heavier theme in the lyrics we're hoping that the vibe of the track feels more uplifting than depressing. We wanted to make a track that was light on the ear without losing character and punch.

Unbelievable

Honesty, moving forward and self-worth. The song is about taking back control and we tried to make the beat feel like it’s totally uncontrollable with the instrumentation while holding it together with a steady driving drum/bass line. We experimented with modifying the timing and tuning of each of the musical elements to see how it affected the vibe of the song. The vocal stabs and percussion is jarring and some of the the synths are snapping in and out of tune and it's disorderly to give it a chaotic feel and in contrast we needed that steady beat and topline to restrain it. So we've combined those two ideas and we're hoping it's more in control than out of control.

Company

This is Han’s favourite track on the EP and it kind of wrote itself while jamming together. It happened organically and felt totally natural to write. We love vocal layering and looping and how the voice can be used as an element in the beat rather than a lead or harmony. So we had a mic and a drum machine and got a few loops going and were just freeballin’ it. We didn’t have a plan for song structure or anything like that and we recorded in the ideas and that was basically the writing process. We sweated on the structure for a bit but we liked the way it progressed so decided not to change it. It’s a simple beat but there are quiet a few little subtle things we added in there. We kept coming back to this project and doing little touch ups. We have a real soft spot for this tune.

Mess

Mess was the first track we started writing for this EP. It’s about making bad decisions and owning them. Being a toxic person and hanging with other toxic people and suckin' in all those sweet toxins. We had a love/hate relationship with this tune and after a number of sessions we had to leave it alone for a few months to get a fresh perspective. In the end this was the last song we finished so it was there in the background for the whole process – it’s probably Jules’ favourite tune on the EP.

Same

The track is about being optimistic about a relationship but unfortunately that optimism is unfounded and is coming from a place of innocence that ends up taking a bad turn later. Realising that you’ve made a mistake and ok yeah wow you’re actually shit.