The band are serious anglophiles, so signing to Heavenly Recordings in 2017 and having their tracks remixed by Andrew Weatherall was a dream. Planet dances in an animal-print halter top and hot pants, an epic sunrise behind her, while Sugar Bones, who shares vocals and shape-throwing duties, is in a billowing open shirt, 90s boyband style. “The neighbours hated us.”Īs you might imagine, the vibe is sheer escapism: the album’s first single, Holiday, is a banger with an earworm vocal about gettin’ paid and gettin’ high, perfected by a video in which the band grooves in a hot air balloon. “We’d take heaps of mushrooms and dance around, and listen to the tracks we were writing,” says Planet. It was in these climes that the dancefloor denizens recorded Tilt, their second album, in the laundry of their share house the vocal booth was a cupboard inside which Planet would shut her head. Pissing me off … You’ve got to fully commit.”ĭuring lockdown, the band moved in together and created a club in their back yard in Thornbury: the Fuck Bunker, a party pad tricked out with a spray-painted sign, lights, speakers and a smoke machine. “The number of times I’ve gone up to randoms and said, if you’re not going to dance, get off the dancefloor. “I’m always the chick at the wedding going full throttle,” Planet says of her energy on stage. With their shared love of OTT performers such as Grace Jones, Róisín Murphy, David Byrne and the Prodigy, that is the band’s ultimate mission. If you’re not going to dance, get off the dancefloor … you’ve got to fully commitīones says their extrovert personas give their audiences permission to let go and join in. When they released their debut album, Confident Music for Confident People, in 2018, it became clear this project was no side hustle: their outlandish costumes (designed by Planet), choreographed routines and bossy lyrics bring down the house at festivals around the world, from Australia’s Splendour in the Grass to Spain’s Primavera Sound. What we do know for sure is Confidence Man formed in Brisbane in 2016, made up of four friends who have also served in other bands: the Belligerents, Moses Gunn Collective and the Jungle Giants. “I don’t even know if we’re joking any more,” Planet says. Their new album, Tilt, was even released on April fool’s day. It’s unclear if all this mystery comes from a genuine need for privacy, or just extreme playfulness. Tilt is still a ridiculously fun record with a distinct identity, proving that the group can still get listeners to euphoric carefree highs through different means.I meet Planet and Bones in a Fitzroy North cafe in Melbourne their publicist has beseeched me not to publish their real names, despite these being easily found on the internet. It’s a logical pivot for a group like Confidence Man to make, but the degree to which they embrace the role is what’s most surprising. Think of shiny plastic synths, Max Martin-style choruses, and the kind of drum machines that are dated in the most beautiful of ways. On Tilt, which also happens to be the group’s finally-out sophomore release, they have switched up their sound significantly, embracing the glossy absurdity of ’90s dance-pop in all its glory. Janet Planet’s Valley Girl schtick was front and centre to Confidence Man’s fun. Like trying to host the party of the year while still on a comedown, it’s not quite as able to keep the momentum going but still has plenty of moments to get down to.
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