“Music has no limitations”: Best Fit speaks to Get People

But they also loved guitar and world music, and though many musicians may listen to other genres for personal pleasure, Get People create music that is informed by them. “We would like to be seen as a band whose production draws from a wide spectrum of genres”. Therefore, to limit them to the confined realm of ‘electronica’ ignores that the music they make is preceded by an unlimited love for music as a whole.

But the reality is that their new EP Harmonize will be placed in either the ‘dance’ or ‘pop and rock’ section in HMV, not the ‘escapist’ section that they detail on their Facebook page. Those same pitying eyes are now accusing Get People of shameless pretentiousness, “‘escapism’ isn’t a genre,” they spit. But I sense there is more truth than there is poetry to this self-styling. This interview captures a narrative that suggests they are escapists by nature. When I ask how they got together, they reply, “we all had a desire to create a world within to escape: our grove”. They are driven to escapists, citing visionaries like David Bowie, Gorillaz and R. Villalobos as key influences over their work. Perhaps most importantly, they see more to music than just the music, “escapism is more descriptive of the project as a whole than just the music”. Escapism is more about limitlessness bound only by their terms, not HMV’s.

This outlook is pretty mature for a band still in their embryonic stages. Releasing music since 2010, aside from Harmonize their other most notable release is the Rain Tears EP. Both show a keen affection for texture, though Harmonize is more “atmospheric and washed out” than their previous effort, creating a more organic sound. “We’ve been told we make “dub anchored cosmic space pop””. This elaborate description couldn’t be truer of their latest single. ‘Grove’ includes bugged out electronic keys on top of syncopated drums, on top of a steady dub baseline creating an expansive sound impressive for an, up ’til now, bedroom band. Perhaps this has something to do with their creative process. It isn’t regimented or rule bound, ”Casper and Dom write the ideas and produce the tracks. However we all chip in with the song writing and work up the songs together in the studio”. Essentially, they do what feels and sounds organic through collaboration.

Collaborating outside their band is also part of their project. In the past they’ve remixed other bands, “it is fun reworking other people’s tracks, sometimes through a love of a the song that makes us really want to have a play with it”, they state, “sometimes we listen to something and think we could do it in a different way so want to have a stab at it”. They remixed the likes of Is Tropical and Mystery Jets adding a more kinetic edge to indie rock music.

Music videos are also used as a cooperative process. “Although we’ve worked with some super talented directors in the past, we have only recently really understood what direction we want to go in with music videos and what the implications are for Get People”. So they welcomed an animator named Michael in a bid to step up their already unique animations, which draw influence from their atmospheric style of music. And so the narrative continues: “we are working together to map a visual world for the debut album to really solidify the concept of the world which we’re building to escape to”.

Once this world comes into fruition, how will they translate it to a live audience? Expect, “trippy, otherworldly visuals, some big ass lasers, tribal drums and plenty of sub bass”. They want to pack up their “dub anchored space pop”, unique visuals and general love of music to give us the otherworldly. Well, not just ‘other’ but the one they have been working to escape to. Soon we’ll be escaping with them when they’re on stage… but not too soon. Apart from a Barfly, Camden gig on 23 July and a handful of August dates in Nevada there won’t be much more live action. “We’re doing our best not to get distracted this summer so we can focus on the album. We want to get it out really next year so have vetoed the festival circuit this year. Annoying cause we loved the summer weekends spent in the rainy fields last year but it’s a necessary evil for the greater good”.

So with the new EP, Harmonize and the singles ‘Something Better’ and ‘Grove’ already out, plus a handful of gigs, what should we expect from the full length? “We are currently in a studio recording our first LP and we now have the means to jam the songs and add live drums and percussion among other things. So we expect the LP to have a more organic feel, which is something we have always wanted, but haven’t had the facility to do until now.” While on Luv Luv Luv Records they have the power to conceive ‘escapism: the genre’. Martin states, “‘Something Better’ was an important bridge on the journey to our LP, as it emphasises our ambitions to make slow, sexy pop music. We want to make down tempo tracks that still groove and can carry to a club environment. Expect more of that vibe in the LP.”

Harmonize is out now on Luv Luv Luv Records.