INTERVIEW: Cosmo's Midnight

Cosmo and Patrick Liney are not only identical twins, they're also the two members that make up the production duo COSMO'S MIDNIGHT. Hailing from Sydney's Inner West, the dudes have been working together by producing rich, electronic music through Ableton.

Since forming a few years ago now, the guys have not only been remixing and creating their own music, they've also played live shows, have been signed to Yes Please Records and only recently released their Surge EP for a "name your price" download!

With their ongoing build of success, we caught up with the lads to gain a further insight on Cosmo's Midnight.

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How did you first get into music?

Probably because of our older brother Nic. Like most younger siblings you tend to follow in your older brothers footsteps, so we’d copy mostly everything he did, but take it to the nth degree. Like he had a rap phase and we took it way too far, buying snoop dogg shirts and d12 hats and walking around like the biggest white boys. At one point he downloaded Ableton and naturally we had to have it as well. So we got it as well and started to make beats and never looked back.

Did these initial experiences with music shape what you create with Cosmo’s Midnight?

Cosmo’s Midnight is a pretty recent thing in terms of our sound; we only started forging it towards the end of last year with our Flume remix. I guess it really originates from when I (Cosmo) made a remix of Lykke Li’s ‘Little Bit' at midnight one night, as such it was called ‘Cosmo’s Midnight Mix’. We thought it sounded pretty cool as an actual name and we used it as the moniker for our more chilled, interesting stuff. Eventually Cosmo’s Midnight became our focus entirely and we’re super stoked to finally have some direction with our sound.

What prompted your decision to start the project?

We wanted to make music that had more credibility and had the potential to affect people if possible. We kind of used to make trashy electro bangers, dubstep and the like and were disenchanted by that whole scene of music. We just really wanted to make music that was enduring.

How have you found gaining a reputation in the Australian music scene?

Are we? Haha, that’s cool, everyone wants recognition in some way or another so it’s great to finally get acknowledged for something you really enjoy. It’s a really rewarding experience that’s for sure.

You guys managed to get yourselves signed to Yes Please before releasing an official debut, how did that come about?

Our management Astral People set that up for sure. They are really close, Astral and Yes Please that is, plus they have such a great roster of acts that are in a similar vein to what we make. The stars just seemed to align for out first release.

What is it like to work with the team at Yes Please?

The Yes Please crew is super talented, Guerre, FISHING…. Their music is so organic and wholesome and we were really happy to be put along side these local dudes that we’d heard about within the Sydney scene for ages.

Now that your debut EP, Surge, is out – what has the response been like?

It’s been really positive, we’ve gotten mixed reviews but most of them were good and we were really happy to see people enjoying ‘Won’t You Stay’ and ‘Lover’s Shadow’ as a lot of reviewers saw them as taking a back seat to ‘Phantasm’ and ‘Surge’. We put equal effort into all our songs so naturally we wanted everyone to love ALL the tracks as well.

Do you feel the EP has lived up to your own expectations?

Entirely. We knew people would like ‘Phantasm’ as it’s a tried and true sound and we simply put our own spin on it. When it was done we were confident that it would work as a kind of A-side track. We also expected that less people would like our tracks ‘Lover’s Shadow’ and ‘Won’t you stay’ as they had less commercial appeal, so we were ecstatic when we were getting messages from people saying that they were their favourite tracks off the EP.

You’re about to embark on your first national tour, so can you talk us through your live show?

Pat plays melodies, chords and bass on a keyboard and I trigger the clips in the song with an APC 40, as in all the extra stuff that makes up the song. We wanted our live show to have a similar vibe to that of a band, so we kind of have short breaks between songs so it feels a bit more like a spectacle. But we also mix and mash songs up together at points so you can get something that you can’t hear at home. Something that justifies coming to see us live. Of course we also chuck in a few unreleased tracks.

Do you feel that a live show is necessary in order to make it in the electronic scene?

It’s definitely becoming more and more important as DJ sets are kind of getting phased out as a mode of performing your own music. For people that are still doing awesome sets as in a proper DJ set i.e compiling an awesome collection of tunes from various artists it’s definitely still viable and they are some of the most enjoyable shows I’ve ever attended. But unless you are an amazing DJ like Brodinski, Gesaffelstein or DJ Rashad who can make a set so experiential and unique (and most importantly make you want to dance), you’ve really got to do something else. No one wants to watch you press play.

What’s on for the rest of the year for Cosmo’s Midnight?

Hopefully another EP, some remixes from some talented people and some more remixes of our own for some great acts. Heaps more shows and maybe a festival appearance. Things are looking up though!

Cosmo's Midnight will be kicking off their Surge EP launch tour this week! All tickets will be available only on the door, except for the Yes Please second birthday party where they can be pre-purchased via MOSHTIX.

COSMO'S MIDNIGHT SURGE EP AUSTRALIAN TOUR

Friday, 28th June

Cats @ Rocket Bar, Adelaide

Support by Tokimonsta

Saturday, 29th June

Rats @ Brown Alley, Melbourne

Support by Oisima

Thursday, 11th July

Yes Please Second Birthday @ Goodgod Small Club, Sydney

With I'lls, Guerre & Fishing

Friday, 12th July

The Causeway, Perth