Hermitude – the duo of Luke Dubber (Dubs) and Angus Stuart (“El Gusto”) – have announced their upcoming album, Mirror Mountain today. Out May 6th via Elefant Traks/Nettwerk Records, the 8-track album is rooted in the place in which it was made. Mirror Mountain is about finding one’s way, a creative spurt coinciding with a global lockdown to find a new kind of homecoming. Alongside the announcement, the duo also shared their new single, “Promises” featuring Blue Mountain artist, Andie.
Simplicity was a significant factor in this record. Making it back to Australia before the borders closed, Hermitude – the duo of Luke Dubber (Dubs) and Angus Stuart (“El Gusto”) – quietly slipped up to the Blue Mountains with a pared- back music setup: a Moog Matriarch, one other synth, and a laptop. “We tried not to over-clutter the music,” says Angus.
“Recording [‘Pollyanarchy’] was a fun experience, but it was also tiring. We wanted to strip everything back and return to the essence of why we started Hermitude in the first place, which was just us two locked in a studio in the mountains having a bit of fun and seeing what came out,” Luke says.
This control over their process led to a loosening of their creative inhibitions. “They say the artist is your inner child, so it was like the children were out at play. There were no rules or expectations; we just threw stuff at the wall. It was really fun, which is why we started making music in the first place. It’s easy to get that muddled when you’re doing it as a profession instead of just hanging out as friends because agendas arise, and suddenly, popularity happens, and you have to adhere to certain things. This new music had none of that, which was exciting,” adds Luke.
From this place of comfort and inspiration, the album captures the story of the people and places that helped define their award-winning career. “We hadn’t written up here for ten years. It’s where we started, and we grew up here, and it’s where we had our first bands. It was returning home, but we wanted to go in a new direction, so it felt fresh, not like going backward. It was returning to our roots but also with this new feeling to it all.”